NED vs AFG: Watch - Rashid Khan Walks Off The Field In Discomfort

The 25-year-old star leg-spinner Rashid Khan walked off the field in discomfort in a massive injury scare for the Afghanistan National Cricket Team in the 34th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 against the Netherlands.

The Dutch and the Afghans are taking on each other at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Friday, November 3.

Rashid, who has been a champion performer for his country for a long period of time, left the field in the 5th over itself. On the second ball of the 5th over, Mujeeb Ur Rahman bowled an 85.8kph delivery to Max O’Dowd, who drove it to mid-off for a risky single. The batter had to put in a dive to complete the run and he would have been dismissed had Rashid Khan produced a direct hit.

After that, Rashid looked in some kind of discomfort and the physio came into the field to check on the spinner. Then, Rashid Khan was seen walking off the field with the physio while holding his hip. They would be hoping that nothing is serious as his absence would be a huge blow to the team.

Watch: Rashid Khan Leaves The Field Injured

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— Aajao Boss Cricket Dekhne (@Hanji_CricDekho) November 3, 2023

Earlier, Afghanistan were invited to bowl first by the Netherlands. Speaking at the toss, Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said that they also wanted to bat first. Hashmatullah Shahidi, however, wanted his side to play good cricket for 100 overs and earn a victory in the match. He elaborated:

“We wanted to bat, but that doesn’t matter. We need to play 100 overs of good cricket. It’ll spin. We are trying to play good cricket. We are going with four spinners. Noor Ahmad is in for Naveen. 

“A lot of support, in this WC, everyone’s praying for us. We are happy for that. The focus will be on today’s game.”

Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil(w), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad

Netherlands (Playing XI): Wesley Barresi, Max ODowd, Colin Ackermann, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards(w/c), Bas de Leede, Saqib Zulfiqar, Logan van Beek, Roelof van der Merwe, Aryan Dutt, Paul van Meekeren