From refugee to role model: Rashid Khan eyes Olympic glory for Afghanistan

Khaleej Times

a day ago

When Kabul Express hit theatres in 2006, Rashid Khan was a cricket-obsessed eight-year-old living as a refugee in the Pakistani city of Peshawar. Today, Rashid is an Afghan cricket superstar and the greatest white-ball spinner on the global stage. But each time Rashid and his free-spirited Afghan teammates go toe to toe with the big guns in cricket, a heart-melting scene from Kabul Express comes flooding back.
In the Bollywood thriller, John Abraham and Arshad Warsi play the roles of television journalists who have an assignment that is not for the faint-hearted — they must travel to Afghanistan for a 'big interview' with a Taliban leader and give their viewers a first-hand account of life in a war-ravaged country.
In one of the opening scenes of the movie, Abraham warms up for his first day in Afghanistan by doing push-ups at the entrance of a building that was shattered by American bombing in a place where none of the buildings escaped the brunt of missiles and bullets. Abraham then notices a young boy enjoying the quiet morning. He poses and gets up to smile at the boy before playfully asking him to join in. The boy responds, but as he rises, the smile on Abraham's face fades. With his left leg amputated, the boy is on crutches and yet stands with poise, greeting Abraham with a bright smile on his face, leaving the audience battling a whirlpool of emotions.
Gladiatorial spirit
That uplifting smile on that boy's face echoes the gladiatorial spirit of Afghan cricketers who continue to defy the odds in international cricket.
Next month, when Rashid leads Afghanistan at the Asia Cup T20 tournament in the UAE, his team will no longer be viewed as underdogs. Having reached the 2024 Twenty20 World Cup semis, barely a few months after they were just one win away from reaching the semifinals of the 2023 ODI World Cup, Afghanistan will be a strong contender for continental glory.
It's remarkable to see the meteoric rise of Afghanistan, the world's only cricket team that has never played an international match on home soil due to the myriad conflicts that have crippled the country.
The irony was not lost on cricket statistician Mazher Arshad when the Rashid-led team launched a giant-killing run at the T20 World Cup last year to reach the semifinals.
'16 years ago, Afghanistan were in Division 5 of ICC World Cricket League and were playing against the likes of Japan, Singapore, Botswana etc,' Arshad wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
'Today, they are in the semifinal of ICC T20 World Cup ahead of the likes of Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, West Indies etc.'
The explosion of cricket talent in the conflict-torn country boggles the mind, as most of their players first learned to play the game at refugee camps in Pakistan.
Overcoming the obstacles
Rashid, 26, who recently joined Ben Stokes, Kagiso Rabada and KL Rahul as a Red Bull athlete, zeroed in on one factor — motivation — when we asked him how cricket has become a beacon of hope in the face of adversity.
'When you talk about the problems we have back home, the obstacles and everything, those problems give us a huge motivation as players and as a team,' Rashid told Khaleej Times over a Zoom video call from the UK.
'When you look at our country, you see those people. The only happiness for them is cricket — the only thing which gives them an opportunity to celebrate in life is cricket. And that's the biggest motivation for us.'
Unable to play at home, Afghanistan played their home matches at Sharjah Cricket Stadium for many years before shifting base to India. Their 'home' ground may have changed, but what hasn't changed is their ability to produce incredibly talented young players.
'We don't have that kind of facility back home, but we have the talent. All the progress we have had over the last five years, especially in ICC events where we were almost in the semifinals in 2023 (ODI World Cup) and 2024 (T20 World Cup), we got into the semifinal against South Africa, this is a massive achievement for us,' Rashid said.
'It shows we have talent in our country. We have got skills, it's just about making sure we get the opportunity to play against the big teams in back-to-back games, which gives you a great learning experience, and then you get better. So over the last four, five years, I think we got that kind of opportunity to play against the big teams back-to-back.
'Initially, we struggled, but we learned from those mistakes, and when we faced them again, we gave them a tough time. And then we won against them. So that's how I feel we have performed really well in the last couple of years in World Cups.'
Cricket in every street
The streets of Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad and every city and town of Afghanistan are now teeming with young children playing the game of bat and ball.
'Everywhere you go, not only in Kabul, but in every city you go to, you will find people playing cricket. And that's a big, big plus point for the country,' Rashid said.
In recent years, the rise of Rashid, Mujeeb-ur Rahman, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Naveen ul Haq, Noor Ahmad and Fazalhaq Farooqi has acted as a catalyst for the Afghan cricket revolution.
'We were not able to see this kind of craze for cricket before because not many people wanted to play — their parents would not allow them to play cricket. We haven't had much future for the kids at that time, we had no superstars that they could follow, they had no role models,' Rashid said.
'And now what we have done as a team so far has inspired all the youngsters to come out to play cricket in the streets and to go to academies and different grounds. It's a massive change for the country.'
Rashid, the role model
The leg-spinner, a big star in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL), now counts several Bollywood celebrities among his fans.
But while growing up with his 10 siblings in Peshawar after the family fled the Afghan war following the 9/11 terror attack in New York, Rashid was the biggest fan of Shahid Afridi, Pakistan's maverick all-rounder.
There are echoes of 'Boom Boom' Afridi in Rashid's fearless batting as a bowling all-rounder, but it's in the bowling department that he drew inspiration from the former Pakistan captain.
Unlike the traditional spinners, Rashid bowls quicker through the air, bamboozles the batters with his googly and subtle variations.
His combination of skills and ice-cool temperament has earned him 405 wickets from just 216 matches across three formats in international cricket. Even more than that astonishing haul of wickets, it's his relentless accuracy in the death overs that has made him one of the world's most feared bowlers — both in international and franchise cricket.
No wonder he gets mobbed every time he visits his native country, where almost every kid wants to become the next Rashid Khan.
'It's a great feeling that I have become an inspiration for all the youngsters. Whenever I go back to the country and see all those youngsters, how badly they want to be like me, it reminds me of the time when I was a fan of the players I liked,' he said.
'It gives you so much happiness as well, and a proud moment that what I've done so far for the country and different teams (in franchise cricket), I think it's massive. It's a really great feeling when youngsters come up and they show that kind of love and tell you that they want to be like you in the future. I try my best to share the experience with the kids whenever I get a chance to spend time with them.'
Olympic dream
Rashid, who is now playing for the Oval Invincibles in The Hundred, his first tournament following an injury layoff, has already set his sights on glory at the Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup next year.
'I am super excited for the Asia Cup. I think that's the best opportunity for us to play against the best teams again, and it's the best preparation (for the 2026 T20 World Cup),' he said.
'And playing the Asia Cup in the UAE means a lot of Afghan fans will come out in big numbers and support the team, and that's something which gives us so much energy and motivation.
'It's always amazing to see how much they love watching us play. And that's so important for us because that inspires us to deliver the best.'
Rashid is also hoping to inspire the Afghan team to deliver a medal-winning performance at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, where cricket will make its first Olympic appearance since 1900.
'It's going to be a massive moment for us to be participating in the Olympics. And to win a medal for the country is more than a dream,' he smiled.
'You know we are so excited because for Afghanistan, winning an Olympic medal will be bigger than winning a World Cup.'
Indeed, it's not hard to imagine the jubilant celebrations in every street of Afghanistan and the beaming smiles on Afghan faces if Rashid and his men step onto the Olympic podium — a scene straight out of a movie.