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Rashid Khan was approached by two countries, including India, with offers of citizenship and a chance to represent them, but he turned them down and chose to continue playing for Afghanistan, according to a new book.<\/p>\n
In Rashid Khan: From Streets to Stardom<\/em>, set to be released on Monday, Rashid told author Mohammad Haand Jafar that both India and Australia made such offers.<\/p>\n “I received such offers (citizenship and playing) from both Australia and India. But I told them, \u2018If I don\u2019t play for my country, I won\u2019t play for any other country either,” Khan is quoted as saying in the book, news agency PTI reported.<\/p>\n While he did not go into details about the Australian offer, the 27-year-old described the Indian approach during the 2023 IPL season.<\/p>\n Rashid, who plays in the IPL for Gujarat Titans, said a team official told him that a \u201chigh-ranking official from the Indian Cricket Board\u201d wanted to meet him.<\/p>\n “I went over and greeted him. We started talking, and he said: \u2018The situation in your country (Afghanistan) is very bad. Come stay in India. We will give you Indian documents, live here, play cricket here.\u2019 I was surprised by what he was saying and didn’t know how to respond. But I smiled and said, \u2018Thank you very much. I am playing for my country, Afghanistan,'” Khan said.<\/p>\n Rashid\u2019s stance on representing Afghanistan has come up earlier as well.<\/p>\n As mentioned in the book, during the 2018 IPL, while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Kolkata Knight Riders, he delivered an all-round performance, scoring 34 off 10 balls and taking three wickets.<\/p>\n The performance led to social media posts in India asking the government to grant him citizenship, with users tagging then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.<\/p>\n Responding to those posts, Swaraj tweeted: \u201cI saw all your tweets. But citizenship matters are dealt with by the Ministry of Home Affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n The issue also drew a reaction from former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who said Rashid was a matter of national pride and would not be given to another country.<\/p>\n Rashid later thanked him and said he would continue to represent Afghanistan.<\/p>\n The book follows Rashid\u2019s journey from Nangarhar to international cricket. It covers how he missed out on an Afghanistan U-19 trial before becoming one of the country\u2019s leading players and later being named the ICC\u2019s Player of the Decade in 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n