Sydney: Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan leg-spinner, said cricket had “changed everything” in the country over the last few years and that nothing brought a smile to people back home as much as a good display by their national team.
Khan was speaking on 29 January, in Australia, at the reveal of the fixtures of the ICC T20 World Cup 2020. Afghanistan has been pooled with the likes of India, England and South Africa in Group 2, and will begin their campaign against one of the qualifiers on 26 October in Perth.
Afghanistan have come a long way since their first appearance in the competition in 2010 – they are No.8 in the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Team Rankings – and Khan said the rise of the sport had given people back home something to smile about.
“It feels good. People back home, they love cricket,” he said in a panel interview at the launch. “It has changed everything in the country in the last five-six years. The young generation… everyone’s following cricket, they love it. It means a lot that Afghanistan is participating in the World Cup.”