Rashid Khan’s debacle in World Cup 2019 leaves Afghanistan skipper Gulbadin Naib dejected

Ahead of his World Cup debut in England this year, a lot was expected from sensational Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan. However, the 20-year-old leggie has not been able to deliver at the mega event and has picked only four wickets in six games. As a result, Afghanistan captain Gulbadin Naib is left frustrated with Rashid’s poor form.

The leg-spinner had a nightmare against England in Manchester the other day when he conceded 110 runs in just nine overs to worsen the 36-year-old record of New Zealand’s Martin Snedden. He was tonked for 11 sixes in that match and seven off them had come off England captain Eoin Morgan’s bat.

Rashid made a decent comeback in the game against India thereafter but his failure in picking a single Bangladesh wicket in Southampton on Monday hurt Afghanistan as they lost by 62 runs to set up yet another poor record: losing most number of consecutive matches (seven) at a Cricket World Cup, jointly with Zimbabwe.

I am a little disappointed

Naib, who was named the captain of Afghanistan replacing Asghar Afghan just ahead of the tournament, is also upset with Rashid’s fielding efforts in the tournament.

“He’s giving his 100 percent, but if you look for the fielding side, I’m a little disappointed,” the Afghanistan captain said in the post-match press conference. “He’s also disappointed about the fielding. One time he’s very angry in the field. I asked him just keep relaxed and just focus on your bowling. So I think he missed his momentum there because of fielding.”

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Rashid was among one of the senior players in the team who had dissented the change of skipper just ahead of the big tournament. Speculation is also rife that he doesn’t have the friendliest of relations with Naib although the leg-spinner has rubbished such reports.

Afghanistan saw a big slump in their performance on Monday after they came very close to shock India two days back on the same ground. Having restricted India to 224 for 8, Afghanistan lacked the killer instinct with the bat and lost by only 11 runs. On Monday, they allowed Bangladesh to score 262 for 7, thanks to sloppy fielding and then lost the game.

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“I’m happy with the toss, but if you look at the match, we missed a couple of catches and gave some extra runs. We gave away 30, 35 runs. Because of mis-fielding we missed the opportunity again,” a disappointed Naib said.