Kolkata Knight Riders: Rashid Khan has shared that he turned down offers of citizenship from both India and Australia. He chose to stay committed to representing Afghanistan.
The star leg-spinner revealed this in his book, Rashid Khan: From Streets to Stardom. He recounted an incident from the 2023 IPL season. A team official told him that a “senior figure” from Indian cricket wanted to meet him. Rashid remembered the conversation. He said, “I went over and greeted him. We started talking, and he said: ‘The situation in your country (Afghanistan) is very bad. Come 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 respond. But I smiled and said, ‘Thank you very much. I am playing for my country, Afghanistan.’”
Rashid also mentioned that such offers weren't unique to one country. “I received such offers (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 either,’” he wrote, emphasizing his strong loyalty to Afghanistan.
