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NEW DELHI: Rashid Khan and his Afghanistan teammates have travelled far and wide to play the game they love and have earned several accolades along the way. Yet one dream continues to elude them — playing an international match on home soil.
The war-hit nation has never hosted a global fixture in Kabul, with years of devastation forcing Afghanistan to adopt overseas venues as makeshift homes.
In that period, Greater Noida, Dehradun and Lucknow in India, along with Sharjah and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, have served as Afghanistan’s home grounds at different times.
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A Dream Bigger Than the World Cup
But Rashid is not ready to let go of that dream.
“Yes, that's bigger than the World Cup to be honest, for me and for the team and every individual. We play an international game in Afghanistan and then all these people will see how people back home in Afghanistan are, how they are welcoming players and how they are enjoying cricket and that's something which is more than a dream to be playing international cricket in your own country,” a solemn-looking Rashid told on the eve of the T20 World Cup match against New Zealand here.
Rashid acknowledged the love the team receives wherever they go, especially during the IPL, but felt nothing could match the emotion of playing in front of a home crowd.
“When we play IPL here (in India), when we play an international game, we see how much their international stars are supported by the local fans and how much they give them love, like we get so much love, I am not saying we don't get love here.
“Whenever we play here, we get lots of love and support, especially playing in IPL and also the World Cup we played (2023), we haven't felt like being away from Afghanistan. But when you play in your own country, it's a kind of different feeling and the world will see the country Afghanistan as well, how beautiful it is. But hopefully, one day we make that possible for an international team to come and they play cricket there,” he said.
Lack of Domestic Depth a Major Challenge
Apart from the absence of home internationals, Afghanistan also lacks a strong domestic structure, something Rashid admitted makes national selection a tough task.
“We don't have much cricket in Afghanistan, especially the shorter format. We have four-day cricket, but not much of the white ball cricket and then some time for you as a captain, it becomes very hard to pick the team because you don't have many options like in India where lots of tournaments are happening every day and you see lots of talents,” he said.
“For me, what we are missing at the moment is competition. When you have competition, you will try your best. Any spinner from Afghanistan who wants to play for Afghanistan will know that he will have to compete with Rashid, to compete with Noor or Mujeeb. The target is set very high and I also have to work very hard.
“I feel if we get that kind of competition in the batting as well, we are going to go to different level. But it only comes when you have a very strong domestic cricket, you have lots of competition back home, that's where you can get the talent and I hope we focus more on our domestic cricket. But whatever you see on TV, it's all just natural talent,” he said.
Hope for Women’s Cricket in Afghanistan
Rashid also expressed his desire to see an Afghanistan women’s team competing at the international level.
“I feel like that's the kind of criteria for, I think, being a full member. So, the ICC, the Afghanistan Cricket Board, they have the better idea. But we love to see anyone representing Afghanistan on any stage, it's a proud moment. But I think it's all about the decision to be taken by the ACB and ICC, sometimes things as a player, you don't have much in the control and we only think about the controllable things.
“But in this situation, we are in a kind of situation where you can't really have much say in it, but yes, the support you have there, it's always there, but bigger people come in and they take the decision and they take it forward,” he said.
(With PTI Inputs)
