I still can't describe the feeling when my name came up for auction: Rashid Khan

Afghanistan teen sensation Rashid Khan is having a merry time in his cricket career. The young leggie was instrumental in guiding his side to a 3-0 series win over Ireland recently. He bagged two big contracts in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL). He became one of the two Afghanistan players to be contracted in the IPL for the first time ever in the history of the tournament. He fetched an amount that was as high as 8 times of what he had listed as his base price.

Recently, as per the quotes in the India Today, he spoke at length about his plans for the IPL this season. Rashid Khan recalled how he and Mohammad Nabi were closely following the IPL auctions. He got a little nervous seeing the likes of Imran Tahir go unsold. However, he got his spirits high when he saw the teams fighting it out to rope in his services this season.

“My family woke me up and told that auction has started. Me and Nabi were watching the live streaming of the auction. I still can’t describe the feeling when my name came up for auction. I was confident of getting selected as I had performed well in the last World T20, Asia Cup and the BPL. But when many top players went unsold, including Imran Tahir, I started to feel the pressure and got tense. I thought that maybe the franchisees are not interested in buying a spinner. But when the bidding started, I was so surprised to see franchisee going after me. I never thought that I will be sold for such a huge price,” he quoted.

Rashid Khan has modelled his action on Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi. There is no denial that he likes the Pakistani superstar. He noted that just like Afridi, he likes to get done with his overs soon. He also loves to use the long handle when batting and has been working on that aspect of his game too.

“Yes, just like Afridi, I also don’t give batsman much time to settle down. I try to bowl quick and finish my over quickly. I am naturally a quicker leg breaker and that is my big plus. Maybe, that is why the franchisee also took me as I am a bit different from the other leg spinners. I was an opener before. I love to send the ball out of the park and have been continuously working on my batting,” quoted Rashid.

He feels that playing in the IPL is the best feeling for him. The opportunity to rub shoulders with the likes of Yuvraj Singh, David Warner, Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan in the Sunrisers Hyderabad camp excites him.

“It is the best feeling for me (getting a chance to play in the IPL). I just can’t wait for it. There are some big names in the Hyderabad team. (David) Warner, Yuvraj (Singh), Shikhar (Dhawan), (Kane) Williamson are big names in world cricket and have been playing IPL for so long. It is a great opportunity for me to learn from their experience and share it with my boys in the Afghanistan team,” commented Rashid.

However, the players that he is very keen to meet are Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and MS Dhoni. He remarked that Sachin Tendulkar has been an inspiration for him since a long time. He hopes he can get a few tips from the legendary batsman.

“I love Sachin Tendulkar a lot. He has been a huge inspiration all these years. I want to meet him and will try to get a few tips from him. I also want to meet Sehwag and Dhoni,” conceded Rashid Khan.