Rashid Khan hopeful of batting at number four for Afghanistan in the coming years
Rashid Khan is one of the top bowling all-rounders in the world right now. But the Afghanistan T20I skipper aims to become a proper all-rounder in the next phase of his career.
During his appearance on The Curtly and Karishma Show, Rashid Khan spoke about his batting skills. He disclosed that he started his career as a batter who could bowl part-time spin. However, after realizing that Afghanistan needed a leg-spinner, he shifted his focus to bowling.
Rashid Khan featured in the Afghan lineup as a specialist bowler during the initial days of his career. However, he has now evolved into a bowling all-rounder and has six international fifties to his name. The 22-year-old is keen to improve his batting further and earn a place in his national side's middle order.
"From the last two and a half years, I have been working a lot on my batting so that I can contribute 20-25 quick runs in the lower order. Hopefully, in the next few years, I can take the number four or number five position in the batting lineup."
Rashid Khan comments on his Test career
Afghanistan was not a Test-playing nation when Rashid Khan made his international debut. However, because of the Afghanistan team's excellent performances, the ICC awarded them Test-playing status.
Rashid is famous for his brilliance in the T20 arena, but he also has a good Test record. The 22-year-old has played five Tests so far, scoring 106 runs and scalping 34 wickets. Offering his views on the difference between T20s and Tests, Rashid said:
"Yes, I think I love Test cricket and I enjoyed the last five Test games I played against different teams and I think it gives me lots of opportunity to improve my skills in that and that is the kind of format which improves your cricket. You know, in T20 you cannot experiment like you cannot do different things because you don't have enough time, but Test cricket tests your skills. You know like how can you bowl a spell of 20 overs, how can you bowl a spell of 30."
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) have appointed Rashid Khan as their T20I captain ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup scheduled for later this year. It will be exciting to see how Afghanistan performs under Rashid's leadership.