'Never counted my wickets' - Rashid on nearing 700 mark in T20 cricket
"I'm happy to reach that milestone and hopefully can make it to 7000," the legspinner joked
Deivarayan Muthu
Feb 7, 2026, 12:08 PM • 2 hrs ago
Rashid Khan is just four away from 700 T20 wickets • Emirates Cricket Board
Rashid Khan is on the verge of going where no other player has gone before: 700 T20 wickets. The impending landmark - he is just four wickets away - had him in great spirits during his press conference on the eve of Afghanistan's opening game of the 2026 T20 World Cup, against New Zealand in Chennai.
"Feeling Nalla [good]," Rashid said, breaking into Tamil with a laugh. "Like I only played nine-ten years of international cricket overall, and then to be the leading wicket-taker is something more than a dream for me. T20 cricket came... I don't know [in] 2004-05, we had players playing a lot, but for me to achieve that would be something very special.
"But I never counted my wickets. I only knew about it in the media: okay, I have reached 400, 500, 600, but I really didn't think about it much. I only tried my best, every single day, I have to keep performing well for the team and I have to pick up wickets. I want to bowl in a tough situation where the team needs [me], and that made me focused… Seven hundred wickets is not something small - getting there needs a lot of time and hard work and I'm blessed. I'm happy to reach that milestone and hopefully can make it to 7000 (laughs)."
Rashid is only 27, and is poised to smash more T20 records, but he has already inspired the next generation of Afghanistan bowlers to take up spin and conquer the world. Noor Ahmad, now 21, for instance, grew up idolising Rashid and went on to play alongside him for Afghanistan, and in the IPL. Then, there's the new kid on the block, Arab Gul
Beyond Rashid, Noor, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and AM Ghazanfar, Afghanistan have more spinners who are working their way up to the top.
When asked about it, he responded: "Pretty much happy… If I'm not playing tomorrow or if I'm not there, we have the back-ups, and we have the options where they can come [in] with the good skills and do well for the team. Arab Gul, there is Qais Ahmad who is ready, Mujeeb is now there, we have Ghazanfar, we have Wahidullah Zadran who is doing well in Under-19 [cricket], then Noor Ahmad, we have Waqar Salamkheil, which is great. And it made us push [ourselves] a lot, it makes us work very hard.
"If we don't take things seriously, they are the ones who are going to step in. If you don't perform in cricket, you can't be just playing and playing. I don't think nowadays, [a big] name should be like always, always, always there. If you are not performing, a youngster will have more hunger than you and will have more commitment than you, so you have to step back and give him an opportunity. So, that's why we have to keep pushing ourselves and that's why I set the target of 7000 (laughs)."
Afghanistan's batting pool, though, isn't as wide as their spin pool. While Darwish Rasooli has emerged from the domestic system and made the T20 World Cup side, Rashid said Afghanistan need to expand their domestic structure if they are to unearth more batters.
"Well, we don't have much [domestic] cricket in Afghanistan, to be honest, especially [the] shorter format," Rashid said. "We have four-day cricket, but not much of the white-ball cricket. And then sometimes, for you as a captain, it becomes very hard to pick the team because you don't have many options. Like in India, lots of tournaments [are] happening every day and you see lots of talent there, and you have so many options.
"For me, what we are missing at the moment is competition, and I think that's so important for every team. When you have competition, you will try your best, you will work very hard. Anybody from Afghanistan wants to play for Afghanistan [as a] spinner, he knows - what should I do? What is the level to compete with Rashid, to compete with Noor, to compete with Mujeeb? The target is set very high and I have to work very hard. I feel like if we get that kind of competition in the batting as well, we are going to go to [a] different level."
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo