New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS): Leg-spin all-rounder Rashid Khan on Thursday has been appointed as the new captain of Afghanistan for the T20I format. Rashid replaces senior off-spin all-rounder Mohammad Nabi, who stepped down from the role post the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
"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," said Rashid in an official statement by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB).
This will be Rashid's second stint as Afghanistan's T20I captain after he had quit as captain of the side shortly after the squad for T20 World Cup 2021 was announced, being at the helm for only two months.
"Rashid Khan is a massive name in Afghanistan Cricket. 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 glories to the nation," said Mirwais Ashraf, the ACB Chairman.
Rashid has so far represented Afghanistan in 74 T20I matches and has 122 scalps to his name in the format, which makes him the third leading wicket-taker in the format behind New Zealand pacer Tim Southee (134) and Bangladesh left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hassan (128).
He has also been in very high demand in franchise cricket, playing 361 T20 matches for 15 different teams around the globe from 2015 onwards and has bagged a mammoth 491 wickets which makes him the second bowler behind Dwayne Bravo (614) with the most wickets in the format.
Afghanistan is set to tour UAE in February 2023 where they will take on the hosts in three T20Is, which will be Rashid's first tour as Afghanistan's skipper in the shortest format after 2019. Rashid will also be captaining MI Cape Town in the inaugural SA20 league in January 2023.