‘Paisay ka chakkker hai babu bhaiya’ – Fans react as Rashid Khan reportedly decides to cancel his BBL boycott

Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan has reportedly decided to take back his boycott call against Big Bash League. Early this year, during the 2022-23 season, he called for the same as Cricket Australia decided to cancel their three-match ODI series with Afghanistan. Apparently, the series was meant to be played in June this year. However, CA cited the condition of women’s cricket and women in general after the Taliban’s takeover to cancel the series.

Some other players had also supported the call. However, it seems that Khan might play in the tournament. The right-arm bowler played for 2017-18 winners, Adelaide Strikers in the last few years. It will be interesting to see whether the team decides to pick him again. For the unversed, the BBL teams are not franchises but are run by the board. Even the tournament is run on a sponsorship basis as it is believed CA doesn’t have much faith in private players running the tournament.

Also, the board is believed to fear that the third party might not have the best interests. Even now, the teams are owned by the state associations under CA. Notably, the same was the case when the tournament was played between state-based teams.

Wouldn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable: Rashid Khan

Meanwhile, eight months back, Khan took to Twitter to express his disappointment over the canceled series. He said that if people feel uncomfortable around Afghan players, then they must step away.

“I am really disappointed to hear that Australia have pulled out of the series to play us in March,” Rashid said in a statement at the time.

“If playing Afghanistan is so uncomfortable for Australia, then I wouldn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable with my presence in the BBL. Therefore, I will be strongly considering my future in that competition.”

This is how Twitter reacted

https://twitter.com/elonifiedmusk/status/1694530951014236528?s=20

https://twitter.com/mahi5621_/status/1694538824896885070?s=20

https://twitter.com/AmitSharmaoffic/status/1694596731747623233?s=20