People remember one bad day, not 10 good days, Rashid Khan says on England thrashing

Rashid Khan, the sensational 20-year-old leg-spinner who though doesn’t represent a frontline side in world cricket, is learning it the tough way in ICC World Cup 2019. The man, who holds the record of reaching 100 ODI wickets faster than anybody else on the planet, conceded 110 runs in nine over in the game against England at Old Trafford on Tuesday. The bowler has been mercilessly trolled since the debacle and the experience has brought out the philosopher in him.

Harsh reactions even came from Iceland Cricket, a nation which is yet to find a place for itself in high-quality cricket. Conspiracy theories are also doing the rounds about Rashid’s performance taking a toll because of his alleged strained relationship with the new Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib though the former has rubbished such reports.

“I am not thinking too much about that match. People forget 10 good days and conveniently remember that one particular bad day. They don’t like to remember what Rashid did on previous 10 days,” India Today cited reports quoting Rashid in an exclusive interview. England amassed a total of 397 in the match and won it by 150 runs, the biggest gap in the ongoing tournament.

The Afghanistan spinner, who is the No.3 bowler in ODIs and the top-ranked one in the T20Is, set up the record of the worst bowling figures in the World Cup in England, worsening the 36-year-old record of New Zealand’s Martin Snedden who had conceded 105 runs in 12 overs against England in 1983.

“I would focus on the mistakes I committed in that match and rectify those in the coming matches. No point thinking about the criticism. I need to keep things simple.”

Not playing top teams often hasn’t helped Afghanistan

Speaking about his team’s mediocre performance in the tournament even after people spoke highly about it before the tournament, Rashid said not playing enough games against teams like Australia and England did not help their cause. They also played South Africa for the first time in ODIs in this World Cup.

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With zero wins from five matches, Afghanistan are virtually out of the race for the semi-final and will be playing for pride in their remaining games. Afghanistan next play India in Southampton on Saturday.