"I was expecting to play at my home ground" - Rashid Khan reacts after CA allots Afghanistan Test to Hobart
Rashid Khan was slightly disappointed after Cricket Australia announced that Hobart's Blundstone Arena would host the historic Test between Australia and Afghanistan.
The Afghan leg-spinner has been a part of the Adelaide Strikers team since 2017 and the Adelaide Oval is their home ground. Rashid Khan, who harbored hopes of playing his first Test on Australian soil in Adelaide, will now have to be content with Hobart.
Reacting to cricket.com.au's post on Instagram, Rashid wrote:
"I was expecting to play at my home ground @adelaidestrikers."
Rashid Khan has been very successful while playing for the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League. The Afghan player has scalped 72 wickets in 50 matches, with his best figures being 4/22.
Khan has maintained a brilliant economy rate of 6.46 in the competition and his bowling average in 50 BBL games is 17.45. He will hope to carry that form into the Hobart Test when he faces the Aussies.
Rashid Khan has a fantastic record in Test cricket
Rashid Khan has played five Test matches in his career, picking up 34 wickets at an economy rate of 2.97. He has one four-wicket haul and four five-wicket hauls to his name in the game's most extended format.
The 22-year-old is the youngest captain to win a Test, having achieved the unique feat of scoring a fifty and taking a five-wicket haul on his captaincy debut. Even though he is no longer the captain of the Afghanistan cricket team in Tests, his contribution to this format has been undeniable.
Only two touring teams have won a Test match against Australia in Hobart. Afghanistan will need to put in an absolute team effort to have any chance of recording an upset win over the formidable Aussies later this year.