Rashid Khan honoured to play in Afghanistan Premier League

Mohammed Shahzad, Asghar Afghan, Rashid Khan and Mohammed Nabi seen during the player draft at the Hilton Hotel Al Habtoor in Dubai on Monday.

Rashid Khan has played in the biggest and most lucrative leagues around the world - be it the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) or the Big Bash League (BBL). But, the leg-spinning sensation considers playing in the Afghanistan Premier League (APL T20) to be a 'big honour'.

The inaugural league gets underway at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium from October 5 to 23 and Rashid Khan, who was picked by Kabul at the player draft that was held at the Hilton Al Habtoor Hotel, Dubai on Monday, said he was looking forward to the tournament.

"It is an honour to play in your own league," said the 19-year-old. "It's a dream of every player to play in every league and a dream of every country to have its own league. In this case it's a good move by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) to set the ball rolling. They have done all the hard work.

"And now is the time for the youngsters from Afghanistan to come forward and show their ability. It will be an opportunity for them to share the dressing room and also rub shoulders with the likes of Shahid Afridi, Chris Gayle and others.

"If you see the BPL, IPL and Big Bash these leagues helped their countries do well. They got a lot of youngsters from those leagues. So we are hoping it does the same for the Afghanistan youngsters," added Rashid who has 105 wickets in ODIs under his belt.

The Asia Cup begins on September 15 and Afghanistan are clubbed with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Group B. When asked about their chances, Rashid Khan said "we have a good chance to progress."

"We have a good combination but only thing is we have to control our nerves and believe in ourselves." Rashid had a wry smile when pushed to answer whether he was happy to avoid India or Pakistan who are in Group A. "Pakistan and India are much better sides. They play well in every condition. We are happy to be in any group but of course against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh we stand a better chance."

Since getting Test status, Afghanistan have played against India in a one-off Test and lost by an innings and 262 runs.

Taking a cue from it, Rashid said, "There are a lot of things to be learnt from Test cricket. Against India it was a good experience, especially in the first session we didn't know what to do. But session-wise we were getting better. And in the last session we were a much improved side. It was a learning curve but the more we play we will gain in experience."

clareto@khaleejtimes.com