Rashid Khan overcomes personal loss for emotional win

Wednesday, 2 January 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

It was an emotional end of the year for Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan superstar, who fronted up to pitch in for Adelaide Strikers’ win in their New Year’s Eve Big Bash League clash, despite the death of his father the previous day.

Khan, who is No.1 on the MRF Tyres ICC T20I Rankings for Bowlers, picked up 2/34 and backed the efforts of Peter Siddle (3/20), Alex Carey (59 off 40 balls) and Colin Ingram (75 off 43 balls) to beat Sydney Thunder by 20 runs on Monday.

It took his total number of Twenty20 wickets for the year to 96, 21 more than the bowler behind him, and a record for any calendar year. But the success was overshadowed by sorrow.

He wasn’t his usual lively self on the pitch, having found out about the death of his father just about 24 hours before. Yet, he chose to stick with the team rather than sit out of the game. Already a popular presence in the dressing room, he only earned more respect and affection from his Strikers’ team-mates and fans. The spinner was perhaps more expensive than usual, going for 19 runs off his first two overs. But when he pulled things back for his first wicket of the day, the whole Strikers’ team congregated around their ‘brother’.

“He’s one of the best in the world at cricket and he’s one of the best blokes I’ve ever played with,” Carey told cricket.com.au after the game. “He’s fitted into our group amazingly over the last two seasons.

“He’s one of our brothers in the side, he’s one of the best players in the world at cricket but just the person he is – I don’t have high enough words. He’s just one of the best I’ve come across as a person ... He was out signing autographs before the game, he fronted up tonight and played outstandingly.”

There is no clarification yet whether Khan, 20, might travel back home to Afghanistan to join his family in the coming days.