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Afghanistan’s star spinner Rashid Khan revealed he declined citizenship offers from India and Australia, choosing to remain loyal to his homeland. In his book, he recalled conversations during IPL 2023 where he was encouraged to switch allegiance but refused, saying he would only play for Afghanistan. He also shared the joy of his son’s birth, drawing warm wishes from the cricketing world.

New Delhi: 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.

The 25-year-old reflected on a similar episode from 2018 while with Sunrisers Hyderabad. After a match-winning performance against Kolkata Knight Riders, social media in India was filled with calls for him to get citizenship—showing the significant admiration he had already earned.