Image Source: Reuters
[Saba Sports News] Afghanistan’s captain Rashid Khan is poised to make his competitive cricket comeback in the upcoming T20I series against Ireland after recovering from back surgery. He has been sidelined since the one-day World Cup last November. While Ireland secured victory in a standalone Test match, Afghanistan leads the current ODI series 1-0, with the initial match going to Ireland and the second being rained out. The T20I series, set to start after the final ODI on March 12, includes matches on March 15, 17, and 18 in Sharjah.
Rashid expressed his eagerness to play in the T20 series in a recent video interview, highlighting his recovery progress and his excitement to represent his country again. He shared the challenges faced during his three-month rehabilitation, emphasizing the slow and painstaking recovery post-surgery but now feels ready to return to the field and aims to bring success to his nation.
“The plan is to represent the country in the upcoming series (T20 against Afghanistan) and the training has been underway and today was the second day and thankfully it went well and I hope that the following few days will also be well so that I can wear the national jersey again and continue to do well for my country,” Rashid shared.
“The last three months were difficult because I had surgery. I had been suffering from a back injury for the last seven to eight months and the doctor had asked me to have surgery even before the World Cup but I decided to play the World Cup and have surgery afterwards because it was such an important event for us but Alhamdulillah I am back on the field and feeling well now and now my focus is on returning to the field and bringing joy and success to the nation. “It was indeed very tough because undergoing surgery and then going through the recovery process is not easy because you need to focus on everything and you need to take care of your rehab and your training as it is a very slow process because you will gradually start walking first and then the gym workouts so those are very tough days.”
He acknowledged the importance of the upcoming series as a preparation for the T20 World Cup, stressing the significance of these matches in the lead-up to the tournament. With limited games scheduled before the World Cup, Rashid highlighted the crucial next two months, including the value of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in their preparation, ensuring that all players, whether participating in the IPL or not, continue their hard work and focus on the upcoming global event.
“The focus is always playing good cricket and doing well and we have played enough against Ireland and we hope to do well and perform well because it’s a great preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup and so the focus is on making the most out of it and preparing well for that event. “The next two months are very crucial for us we don’t have more games to play after these three games against Ireland and the focus will be to learn more from these games and the players can work hard during the last two to three months before the World Cup,” he added.”The good thing is most of our players will be playing IPL and it will be good preparation for the World Cup and we will also keep in touch with those who are not there (in the IPL) to continue working hard in this period,” he concluded.