Expressing his delight over bagging a lucrative deal in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan has said he cannot wait to play in the cash-rich league.
The 18-year-old, who was the highest wicket-taker in the World T20 last year, became the highest paid cricketer from an associate nation in the history of the IPL after he was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 4 crore in last month’s player auction.
“It is the best feeling for me (getting a chance to play in the IPL). I just can’t wait for it,” he told India Today.
The young bowler will get a chance to share the dressing room with some big names and he is looking forward to gain some valuable experience from them.
“There are some big names in the Hyderabad team. (David) Warner, Yuvraj (Singh), Shikhar (Dhawan), (Kane) Williamson are big names in world cricket and have been playing IPL for so long. It is a great opportunity for me to learn from their experience and share it with my boys in the Afghanistan team,” said Rashid.
The right-arm leggie, who recently hogged the limelight after taking five wickets for only 3 runs against Ireland, said he has modeled his bowling like Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi.
“Yes, just like Afridi, I also don’t give batsman much time to settle down. I try to bowl quick and finish my over quickly. I am naturally a quicker leg breaker and that is my big plus. Maybe, that is why the franchisee also took me as I am a bit different from the other leg spinners,” he pointed out.
Recalling the day of auction, Rashid said he was confident of getting a suitor before admitting he was very surprised to see teams fighting it out to secure his services.
“My family woke me up and told that auction has started. Me and Nabi were watching the live streaming of the auction. I still can’t describe the feeling when my name came up for auction. I was confident of getting selected as I had performed well in the last World T20, Asia Cup and the BPL. But when many top players went unsold, including Imran Tahir, I started to feel the pressure and got tense. I thought that maybe the franchisees are not interested in buying a spinner. But when the bidding started, I was so surprised to see franchisee going after me. I never thought that I will be sold for such a huge price,” he recalled.
The Afghanistan bowler, who comes from a financially sound background, said playing in the celebrated league is more important than money. Afghanistan have already showed their immense potential with some brilliant displays in international cricket and Rashid feels his stint in the IPL will surely inspire youngsters of his country.
“What really matters to me is getting a chance to play this league. It is a big thing for our country, especially for the young generation of our country. It is a great message for the cricketers of our country. There is a lot of talent in Afghanistan, they just need some inspiration. Hopefully, you will see more big names from our country in the coming years.”
Rashid also expressed his desire of meeting some Indian cricket stalwarts.
“I love Sachin Tendulkar a lot. He has been a huge inspiration all these years. I want to meet him and will try to get a few tips from him. I also want to meet Sehwag and Dhoni,” he concluded.