Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Star spinner Rashid Khan said that playing in Twenty20 leagues around the world has helped most Afghanis...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Star spinner Rashid Khan said that playing in Twenty20 leagues around the world has helped most Afghanistan players deal with not playing international cricket.
Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan last year, nearly two dozen players have moved their base to the United Arab Emirates to avoid travel problems.
Several sponsors have left, and at one point, Afghanistan's full membership in the International Cricket Council (ICC) was in question because the Taliban leaders don't like women's cricket.
With only sporadic international cricket on their Future Tours Programme (FTP) schedules, franchise cricket has helped players like Rashid and Mohammad Nabi become popular in their leagues.
Rashid told reporters before Tuesday's Asia Cup game against Bangladesh in Sharjah that his team doesn't play a lot of long-form cricket.
"It's about the FTP, and the players have nothing to do with it. We want to play a lot of international cricket so that our young players can learn about the environment and improve their skills.
"We get to learn from the best players because we play in a lot of international leagues.
"That's what we bring to the international team. We tell the rest of the team about it."
It showed in the way they played, as Afghanistan beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the first game of the tournament on Saturday.
Rashid said that even though Twenty20 leagues were appealing, the players still put international cricket first.
"You have to be there if you have international duty. It's always the most important thing.
"We hope to play more games outside of the country in the coming years."
