Ever wondered what would be Rashid Khan's nickname?

A look at Rashid Khan’s Wikipedia page and everything looks perfectly normal, his name, the date of birth, then there is the basic stuff about him, the debut dates, his style of play, etc but one thing that should catch your attention is his nickname listed on the website. As per the online encyclopaedia, Rashid’s nickname is Afghanistan’s Afridi.

Now, where does this come from? Let me tell you the story. A kid from the Nangarhar province in war-torn Afghanistan aspired to play professional cricket. His country didn’t have the grounds, the facilities nor the ideal support but he had this dream and he pursued it. It would manifest into reality sooner for Rashid Khan Arman. He watched Pakistan legend Shahid Afridi bowl leg-spin on TV and wanted to be like him.

Wanted to learn from Afridi

There is a certain resemblance in their bowling style if not bowling on the whole. “I just saw Shahid Afridi on TV and learned from there, as I like the way he bowls,” Rashid had told ESPNcricinfo in 2016. “I am still trying to develop few other deliveries and working a lot on them. Hopefully, when I meet him I will learn more from him.”

Rashid was a U19 cricketer when he got a call-up into the national team back in 2015. He joined the team on the tour of Zimbabwe and has never looked behind. He is only a 19-year-old lad now but has already played 44 ODIs and 29 T20Is for the Afghanistan team and is set to make his Test debut when the national team plays its first Test against India later in June.

He became the first Afghanistan cricketer to be picked in the Indian Premier League (IPL), then went on to play the Big Bash League in Australia and is currently playing his second season for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL after being retained by the team.

Rashid is from the latest breed of young leg-spinners who have reinvented the traditional art. They do flight the ball but also dart in one quicker to keep the big shots in check, his googly is still tough for batsmen to figure and that also has a lot to do with his action and his wrong-footed bowling.

His exploits at the domestic level where he is a lot more than just a bowler giving the ball a good hit, being a leg-spinner and overall a character that everyone loves has earned him this nickname Afridi of Afghanistan and Shahid Afridi would certainly be proud of this young lad and his achievements thus far.

Here is how the Wikipedia page looks like:

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