Sports

Rashid Khan named new Afghanistan T20I captain

Photo: ICC

Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has announced that Rashid Khan will lead the team in T20Is – which will be his second full stint as captain of the Afghanistan cricket team.

This comes after Mohammad Nabi resigned from captaincy after Afghanistan crashed out of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.

Rashid previously captained Afghanistan from September to November 2019, where he led the side to four wins out of seven, which included a series win over then defending T20 Champions West Indies.

He was again appointed captain in the lead-up to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 but resigned one month before the tournament.

Speaking about his appointment, Rashid said: “Captaincy is a huge responsibility. I have the experience of leading my country before, there is a great bunch of guys with whom I have a good understanding and feel pretty comfortable.

“We will try to stick together, will work hard to put things on the right track and bring pride and joy to our country and nation”.

Rashid has the support of ACB chairman Mirwais Ashraf, who has backed him to take Afghanistan to the top of T20I cricket.

“Rashid Khan is a massive name in Afghanistan Cricket,” Ashraf said. “He has colossal experience of playing the format around the world which will help him take the team to a new level in the format.

“Rashid Khan has the experience of leading AfghanAtalan in all three formats before and we are happy to have him as our skipper for the T20I format again. I am sure he will come out on top and will bring more glory to the nation”.

Rashid’s first tournament as the new captain will be a three-match T20I series in February 2023 against UAE.