It was the 20th birthday of Rashid Khan yesterday and the Afghan treated himself with a scintillating show against Bangladesh. He earned the Man of the Match award for his all-round efforts on the field in the ongoing Asia Cup. Earlier with the bat, he scored 57 off just 32 balls that took Afghanistan to 255/7 from 50 overs. Then, he scalped 2 wickets and a run-out to turn it into a perfect game.
It can’t get better for the leg-spinner but actually, it did. Not only did he shine on the field, but also received birthday wishes from the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar himself. Tendulkar wrote on Twitter, “Happy Birthday, @RashidKhan_19! May you have a very long and illustrious cricketing career.”
Here’s what Tendulkar tweeted
Happy Birthday, @RashidKhan_19! May you have a very long and illustrious cricketing career. pic.twitter.com/4CGtIcb5kA
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) September 20, 2018
Rashid Khan’s reply
For a 20-year-old cricketer who’s got the world at his feet, it’s a massive feat to get Tendulkar’s attention. Rashid was overwhelmed and was quick to respond. In his reply, he thanked Tendulkar for his wishes and termed him as the greatest batsman of all time.
“The greatest batsman of all time @sachin_rt PAJI thank you for your wishes. You are the champion and legend of cricket. Your wishes means to me a lot,” wrote Rashid on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/rashidkhan_19/status/1042700735924908032
Nation’s leading wicket-taker in ODIs
In the last game against Bangladesh, the leg-spinner added another feather to his cap. He was slightly behind Mohammad Nabi who was the leading wicket-taker in ODI cricket for Afghanistan. Rashid overtook Nabi in the game to clinch the top spot. Later, Nabi also took a wicket and both the bowlers now stand at 112 wickets.
Rashid picked those wickets in just 49 matches while it took Nabi 103 games to reach there. Rashid has an average of just 14.06 and a strike rate of 21.8. He is picking wickets faster than anyone else and a warrant of that he was the quickest to 100 ODI wickets in the game of cricket.
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