I used to dream about Sachin, Afridi and Kumble – Rashid Khan

Sachin Tendulkar, Shahid Afridi and Anil Kumble were Rashid Khan’s heroes when he was growing up. Rashid, who made his debut for Afghanistan in 2015, has gone on to become one of the best bowlers in international cricket. The 23-year old has taken over 600 wickets in his career so far.

He is also known for his aggressive batting across formats. Rashid recently said he was fond of Sachin Tendulkar’s batting. “Batting-wise, I always loved watching Sachin Tendulkar. [Back then] I wasn’t the kind of player with a mindset of hitting sixes. I loved playing down the ground, singles, boundaries. I don’t know how and why I changed my mind to now mainly focusing on hitting sixes,” Rashid told Cricket Monthly.

Rashid Khan also said he used to watch YouTube videos of Shahid Afridi and Anil Kumble to learn about bowling.

“[Bowling-wise], definitely Shahid Afridi and Anil Kumble. Even at home, playing against my brothers, I was bowling quicker leg-spin [like Afridi and Kumble]. I loved watching them on TV. I still watch videos [of them] on YouTube – there are so many things I learned from them and still do,” he stated.

“I used to dream about these three players and imagine being them. We didn’t have a proper Afghanistan team back then and there were no hopes for us to be international cricketers, so watching them was great. And now when I meet them, it is more than a dream,” Rashid added.