Chennai: Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan Saturday welcomed the expansion of the T20 World Cup into 20 teams from the ongoing edition, saying it has opened the doors to players from more countries to showcase their talent on the global stage.
The 2026 iteration of the ICC showpiece is the biggest ever in its history in terms of the number of participating teams.
“It’s always good to have more teams in the World Cup, that’s why lots of nations come in and you see lots of new talent, which you haven’t seen and different teams come in, they give tough time to the oppositions and I think that’s how the World Cup becomes bigger and bigger,” Rashid said on the eve of the match against New Zealand.
“It doesn’t matter if you are losing or winning the game, but you show to the world that you are capable of beating any side, any time as long as you have that belief,” he added.
Afghanistan are in Group D along with contenders New Zealand and South Africa, and Rashid said the team was looking forward to taking the rough road.
“In World Cup, you don’t get things easily, it’s always very tough and that’s the beauty of T20 cricket. You have to pass through the tough lines to achieve something bigger and I feel like that’s something that is a challenge for us. If you want to achieve bigger things, you have to go through tough routes and we have tough opposition.”
“But still you have to keep that belief in yourself and keep pushing yourself in the ground, as we have done in the ’24 World Cup, where we have beaten big teams. I think the confidence is there, but it’s just about making sure we do the right things at the right time,” he added.
The leg-spinner said the Afghan players’ experience in playing in the IPL will stand them in good stead in the tournament.
“We do have good spinners, but still you have to bowl well. And the wicket looks good, I think it looks good to bat on, but still the experience you have of playing a lot in IPL in here, I think you have to use that experience here and you can bowl the best to the batter, so it’s going to be a good game,” he said.
Rashid is four shy of completing the 700-wicket mark in all T20 competitions, and he was proud of his performance.
“Feeling “Nalla”! I only played 9-10 years of international cricket and then to be the leading wicket taker is something more than a dream for me. T20 cricket came, I don’t know, 2004-05. I never counted my wickets; I only got to know it from the media that I had reached 400, 500, 600. I try my best, every single day, I have to keep performing well for the team, I have to pick up wickets, I want to bowl in tough situations where the team needs and that made me focused.
“I still sometimes think 700 wickets is not something small, getting there it needs lots of time and lots of hard work, but I am blessed and I am so, so happy that reaching that milestone and, hopefully, we will make it to 7000,” he added.
