Rashid Khan was approached by two countries, including India, with offers of citizenship and the chance to represent them, but he turned them down and decided to continue playing for Afghanistan, according to a new book.IN Rashid Khan: From Streets to StardomRashid told author Mohammad Haand Jafar that both India and Australia had made such offers.“I got such offers (of citizenship and playing) from both Australia and India. But I told them, ‘If I don’t play for my country, I won’t play for any other country,'” Khan was quoted as saying in the book, as reported by news agency PTI.While he did not go into details about Australia’s offer, the 27-year-old described India’s approach during the IPL 2023 season.Rashid, who plays for Gujarat Titans in the IPL, said a team official told him that a “high-ranking official from the Indian Cricket Board” wanted to meet him.“I went to him and greeted him. We got talking and he said, ‘The situation in your country (Afghanistan) is very bad. Stay in India. We will give you Indian documents, live here, play cricket here.’ I was surprised by what he was saying and didn’t know how to react. But I smiled and said, ‘Thank you very much. I am playing for my country, Afghanistan,” said Khan.Rashid’s stance on representing Afghanistan has surfaced before.As mentioned in the book, during IPL 2018, when he played for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Kolkata Knight Riders, he gave an all-round performance scoring 34 off 10 balls and taking three wickets.The performance led to posts on social media in India asking the government to grant him citizenship, with users tagging External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.Responding to these posts, Swaraj tweeted, “I have seen all your tweets. But citizenship matters are handled by the home ministry.”The issue also drew a response from former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who said Rashid was a matter of national pride and would not be given to another country.Rashid later thanked him and said he would continue to represent Afghanistan.The book traces Rashid’s journey from Nangarhar to international cricket. He discusses how he missed out on a trial in the Afghanistan U-19s before becoming one of the country’s leading players and later being named the 2020 ICC Player of the Decade.
