Dear Rashid Khan,
You know they say that back home, there are always political shenanigans that has left your country devastated? Yet, somehow cricket has been an outlet that the country has tried so desperately to pave its way back to freedom to. They say that apparently the bat and the ball has done the nation a world of good that those bullets and bombs couldn’t.
You are from a nation that is always in some controversy or the other and your citizens believe that if there is an outlet from all of these monstrosities, it has to be the sport. When we talk about cricket as a sport, cricket as a religion, we have our Gods. For Afghanistan, you are the one.
Taking it forward from Mohammed Nabi, you showed it to the world that anything is possible. An unheralded lad from an associate nation made the sport his very own. No matter the opposition, no matter the for, you were here to stay and you stayed.
People thought that they have found a beast in your bowling and they were not wrong. With every passing day, you have improved your bowling by leaps and bounds and brought down entire batting units on its knees. But who would have known that you were en route to becoming one of the best all-rounders in the shortest format of the game.
The embers were already there and so were the sparks. There was a glimpse of a fire underlying the ever-smiling demeanour of yours and today it blew out of all proportions. What an absolute crazy knock that was from your willow against the rampaging bowling unit of the Mumbai Indians! From the very ashes, you made it a kingdom of your own that no one would ever forget.
From where Gujarat was down and out, you gave them hope. You gave them hope through shots that probably cricket would never forget. No matter how many words I stitch together, it would fall short of your mesmerizing brilliance. It was a beauty to see you deliver such handsomely. No matter what the world says, continue to be yourself and the rest would fall in line.
Yours sincerely,
A crazy cricket fan of yours.
