I will play only for Afghanistan…Rashid Khan had rejected the offer of Indian citizenship, himself revealed

New Delhi. Afghanistan’s star leg spinner Rashid Khan has revealed that he had received offers of citizenship and playing for two countries. He rejected these offers and decided to remain loyal to his country. Rashid told that India is also involved in offering him citizenship. 27 year old Rashid Khan has told this in his upcoming book ‘Rashid Khan: From Streets to Stardom’. In this he told that during the 2023 IPL season, he was informally asked to change the country.

Rashid is quoted in the book as saying, “I had received such offers (of citizenship and playing) from both Australia and India. I told them clearly, ‘If I will not play for my country, I will not play for any other country.'”

He did not give much information about the Australian offer, but explained in detail about the Indian offer. At that time, he was playing IPL for Gujarat Titans, when a team official told him that “a senior official of the Indian Cricket Board” wanted to meet him.

Rashid recalled, “I went and greeted him. When the conversation started, he said, ‘The condition of your country (Afghanistan) is very bad. Come to India. We will give you Indian documents, stay here, play cricket here.’ I was surprised to hear what he said and did not know what to answer. But I smiled and said, ‘Thank you very much.’ I am playing for my country Afghanistan.”

This is not the first time that Rashid’s loyalty has come under discussion. His patriotism was in the headlines even while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018. In a match against Kolkata Knight Riders, he scored 34 runs in 10 balls and changed the course of the match by taking three wickets. After this performance, a campaign started on social media in India, in which fans demanded the government to grant them citizenship. In many posts, the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was tagged, who replied that matters related to citizenship are handled by the Home Ministry.

The then President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani also reacted to this campaign. He called Rashid the pride of the country and made it clear that Afghanistan will not lose its brightest cricket star. Rashid later thanked Ghani for this support and once again reiterated his commitment to Afghanistan, which he has continued to maintain, even if he has got opportunities to go elsewhere.