Melbourne: Charismatic Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who is in the ‘Platinum Category’ for the Big Bash League (BBL) Player Draft on August 28, has raised the pitch for his country’s batters to be given a chance to play in the lucrative Australian domestic T20 tournament, saying he would be “happy” if they are provided the opportunity.

Afghanistan spinners such as Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi may be household names but their batters hardly figure in the several domestic T20 leagues across the world, and Rashid Khan says they need to be given an opportunity as there are several young power-hitters waiting to get noticed.

An army of Afghanistan cricketers is enrolled for the BBL Draft with the likes of Rashid Khan, Qais Ahmad, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb ur Rahman and Zahir Khan eligible for retention by various franchises, while several others, including Noor Ahmad, Ijaz Ahmadzai, Zia ur Rehman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shafiqullah Ghafari, Usman Ghani, among others, being the other nominees in the list of more than 250 cricketers from 19 countries in the Draft.

A report in cricket.com.au said that nominations had been received from 27 Afghan players for the BBL-12 Draft.

Rashid said not just the country’s spinners but the batters too had the talent and the skills, and all they needed were opportunities. “I would be happier to see the batsmen rather than the bowlers,” he told cricket.com.au. “We have so many bowlers playing all around the world, but I would be so happy if our batsman took that responsibility to play in all the leagues.

“That might help them improve their cricket and it’d be a very good thing for Afghanistan cricket. Once they get that opportunity, they have performed really well in the past when some players have played in the Pakistan Super League. If they get that proper opportunity, they can show to the world how good they are,” the 23-year-old spinner added.

He said big-hitting openers Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz were top of the list of batters. Zazai has the second-highest score of all-time in T20Is behind Australia skipper Aaron Finch’s 172 against Zimbabwe. The young southpaw smashed an unbeaten 162 off just 62 balls against Ireland in 2019. His knock was embellished with 11 fours and 16 maximums, the record in T20Is for an individual innings. The 24-year-old has scored 2,522 T20 runs at a strike rate of 145 in 82 matches in the Pakistan, Sri Lankan and Bangladesh leagues.

Gurbaz, on the other hand, has a T20 ton to his name, scoring an unbeaten 121 for Kabul Eagles in this year’s Shpageeza Cricket League in Afghanistan.

“They are very destructive batters, especially in the short format,” said Rashid. “They’ve done so well so far and if they get the opportunity, I’m pretty sure they’re going to deliver their best.” (IANS)