Speaker 1: Or not speaking. I play all around the world, everywhere,
Speaker 1: each in every country, but my hote always remained in
Speaker 1: Afghanistan and with the people of Afghanistan.
Speaker 2: Tax on time.
Speaker 3: Hello and welcome to this episode of Ordinarily Speaking. We've
Speaker 3: all seen the smile of Rashid Khan, the joy he
Speaker 3: brings to the cricketing world, and the unbelievable skill that
Speaker 3: has produced well over four hundred t twenty wickets in
Speaker 3: just over three hundred games. He is a superstar of
Speaker 3: the sport, with millions of followers on social media. But
Speaker 3: this is a story about the man, not the star.
Speaker 3: Rashid's parents were his world. The memory of them continues
Speaker 3: to inspire him every day. When Rushid's dad died in
Speaker 3: December twenty eighteen, his mother urged him to play on
Speaker 3: through the Greek Only eighteen months later, Rushid watched his
Speaker 3: mum pass away in front of his eyes. She had
Speaker 3: COVID and her death came suddenly. In this episode of
Speaker 3: Ordinarily Speaking, he shares that incredibly personal story for the
Speaker 3: very first time. The conversation unfolds in the knowledge of
Speaker 3: Afghanistan's current plight, So the dreams and aspirations that Rushid
Speaker 3: holds for his country are met with both hope and heartache. Ultimately,
Speaker 3: he is a son who desperately misses his parents, and
Speaker 3: a brother and uncle who wants to take care of
Speaker 3: his family and keep him safe. I hope you enjoy
Speaker 3: getting to know Rashid as much as I did. Oh, Rashie,
Speaker 3: thank you so much for graining to do this with me.
Speaker 3: I'm really looking forward to getting a better insight into
Speaker 3: your life and what it's like being you. Before we
Speaker 3: get stuck into the nitty gritty, I wanted to start
Speaker 3: by asking you. The Strikers boys tell me that you
Speaker 3: take them out for dinners and shout them dinners constantly.
Speaker 3: What's the most generous thing you've done? And I hear
Speaker 3: it's usually Afghan restaurants as well, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 1: I think in the first couple of three years, we
Speaker 1: do had those kind of little bit parties and I
Speaker 1: used to get all the team, you know, to the
Speaker 1: restaurants and it's all about, like, you know, we just
Speaker 1: gather and as a team and we enjoy we have
Speaker 1: that kind of time. You know, we'll get us together
Speaker 1: as a team and I love to do that, you know,
Speaker 1: I always do that and since the last two years,
Speaker 1: you haven't done any because of the COVID and stuff.
Speaker 1: You can't go outside in the restaurant. But yeah, that
Speaker 1: is something which makes me happy. You know, it's not
Speaker 1: just about cricket. I go everywhere, you know, I just
Speaker 1: want to make families. I just want to make friends,
Speaker 1: and I just want to be remembered as a good person,
Speaker 1: not as a good cricketer. You know, that is something
Speaker 1: which I mainly focus on. I'm lucky I have such
Speaker 1: kind of friends and strikers which you know, which they've
Speaker 1: given me so much love and respect and and we
Speaker 1: do have those parties. I miss that. Hopefully everything get
Speaker 1: back to normal and we keep keep it feeding that you.
Speaker 3: And me both. The fact that you pick Afghan restaurants,
Speaker 3: is it important for you to allow your teammates into
Speaker 3: a little bit of your culture and your love of Afghanistan?
Speaker 1: Definitely, you know, they all we always talk about the
Speaker 1: Afghan food and in the team, whenever they ask me
Speaker 1: what you had for lunch or for dinner, I said
Speaker 1: Afghan food and then they're like, oh why not. Sometimes
Speaker 1: we go with you and we have the food. So
Speaker 1: lucky that we have your restaurants in Adelaide as well Avegne.
Speaker 1: That's going to be it's easy for me to get
Speaker 1: the food from and yeah, absolutely, you know, we just
Speaker 1: need to have that kind of culture sharing to understand
Speaker 1: each other culture and each other. So it's so important,
Speaker 1: you know, to know each other culture.
Speaker 3: Ye give us an insight into your upbringing. What was
Speaker 3: it like when you were a little kid.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I had a bit quite childhood because I was
Speaker 1: away from my older brothers. I was in the village
Speaker 1: with my mom and dad and my brothers. They were
Speaker 1: in Pakistan, so they were refuge there and my parents
Speaker 1: were in Afghanistan, so very quiet in Shy. I wasn't
Speaker 1: quite interested to go to school. You know. I was
Speaker 1: someone who always wanted to be home and never entrusted
Speaker 1: in studies and always wanted to be around the parents,
Speaker 1: you know, don't want to leave the home. And then
Speaker 1: they shift me back to Pakistan to study there as
Speaker 1: a refugee. Yeah. Then my nephews were so much ahead
Speaker 1: of me in the school and I was just starting
Speaker 1: from the beginning. I don't want to study in this class.
Speaker 1: I want to go ahead and sit with them, and
Speaker 1: and it wasn't allowed to be the way because they
Speaker 1: said you have to study this and then. So then
Speaker 1: I got a few double promotions. Luckily I knew the
Speaker 1: head and the head of that school, and he said, okay,
Speaker 1: it's fine, I can do that for you as long
Speaker 1: as you study hard and you make sure you adjust
Speaker 1: yourself in those classes. So to be honest, yeah, then
Speaker 1: I started studying hard and I had English classes then.
Speaker 1: Then since I was into the schools, I think I
Speaker 1: was someone who loved the school the most and wanted
Speaker 1: to become a doctor. And that's was my dream, and
Speaker 1: that was my dream of my family, you know, they
Speaker 1: all had that expectation for me that I will be
Speaker 1: a doctor in future. I wasn't quite interested in the cricket.
Speaker 1: Brothers used to play a lot of cricket, but I
Speaker 1: was just being there with them as a fielder. So
Speaker 1: I was just feeling for them, not bowling, not bantting, nothing.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah that's the little duty. So but yeah,
Speaker 1: I had those skills in talent and me in that time,
Speaker 1: brothers were like, you're pretty good, Like even in the fielding.
Speaker 1: You were like, you have so so much energy and
Speaker 1: you love this game. But I never like played outside,
Speaker 1: mostly at home mostly at home because my family were
Speaker 1: not allowing me to go outside and play with the
Speaker 1: friends in the streets in the because it wasn't safe
Speaker 1: at that time and they were like, maybe you know,
Speaker 1: you might fight with someone, they might fight with you.
Speaker 1: Situation wasn't as good. We didn't have that kind of facilities.
Speaker 1: We didn't have that kind of future role models at
Speaker 1: the moment like youngsters have. We didn't hide in the future,
Speaker 1: and that's why they were not allowing me to go
Speaker 1: and play cricket. So luckily later on I got that opportunity.
Speaker 3: So you referenced your nephews there being around the same
Speaker 3: age as you, So you had eleven there's eleven of you, right,
Speaker 3: brothers and sisters and you and then how many needs?
Speaker 3: So hang on, first of all, what's the age gap
Speaker 3: between your siblings? Do you know?
Speaker 1: Yeah, my dad had two wives, so when my first
Speaker 1: mom she passed away, then my mom, so he married.
Speaker 1: So from that he has four kids, two daughters and
Speaker 1: two sons. So they are like in the age of
Speaker 1: sixty sixty five, you know, my brothers. So from there,
Speaker 1: my nephews are like my eldest nephew is like forty
Speaker 1: four forty five, so I'm like even half of his age.
Speaker 1: And I have nephews, which they have kids. You know,
Speaker 1: they're in my age.
Speaker 3: Like, do you still site to them, I'm your uncle now.
Speaker 1: You definitely, you know, they are like older than me.
Speaker 1: Still they do restract me a lot in there. But
Speaker 1: I have lots of nephews to be honest, and nieces
Speaker 1: which which is pretty hard for me to count them.
Speaker 1: If I count them, maybe it gets two hundred. Really, yeah, seriously,
Speaker 1: if I count, it's around hundred. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So I have five nieces and nephews. I buy them
Speaker 3: all birthday presents and Christmas presents.
Speaker 1: I'm so lucky. You just five or twenty for me.
Speaker 1: It's so much. You know, it's not about the birthday,
Speaker 1: you know. Sometimes they need something else as well. Like
Speaker 1: my nephews, whenever they want something, they don't tell their dad,
Speaker 1: they don't tell anybody else. They just message me and like,
Speaker 1: look this is what I need and I just arrange
Speaker 1: it from here for things for them. So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: pretty hard. Whenever it's their birthday, I try my best
Speaker 1: to hire myself and not to pick their car, not
Speaker 1: to reply him. And then after two three days, I said, oh,
Speaker 1: I forgot. I was busy. Yeah, it's pretty hard to
Speaker 1: arrange the things for them, like, you know, so many
Speaker 1: gifts and stuff. Luckily I'm not going home, otherwise would
Speaker 1: have been troubled. Whenever I go back home, I have
Speaker 1: all the stuff with me. I come back empty. I
Speaker 1: just have one empty bag and that's it. The rest
Speaker 1: of the things, everyone takes it from me. My shirts,
Speaker 1: my jeans, everything, my shoes, everything, nothing. Then I come
Speaker 1: back to Dubai and I buy everything new. And that's
Speaker 1: happened like a few times. Because they all have my brother,
Speaker 1: they have the same size and everything same and they
Speaker 1: just take it from me. And I said, okay, I
Speaker 1: can't say anything. I go with the like seventy eighty
Speaker 1: kg and I come back like ten kg five kg.
Speaker 3: Do you take it upon yourself to look after your family,
Speaker 3: the extended family?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah I do. I do love I love it.
Speaker 1: You know, we're all joined family. I have seven brothers
Speaker 1: and four sisters, so we all live in like in
Speaker 1: the same house. We love that. I have a very
Speaker 1: big house which has which has around twenty rooms, very big. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And did you get that fall them?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got one new. But we had that old
Speaker 1: one before, like before I get into cricket, so we
Speaker 1: had that big house. So now I got one new
Speaker 1: home which is Encarble. Hopefully one day we shift to
Speaker 1: that home as well. So yeah, we we love being together.
Speaker 1: They all wash the cricket together and when I'm playing,
Speaker 1: even if it's late as well. In Afghanistan, they still
Speaker 1: watch cricket. They don't sleep and they keep sending me
Speaker 1: all the snaps and videos and stuff, so just to
Speaker 1: make sure you're watching you and you're doing well.
Speaker 3: So yeah, that must have meant a lot to you
Speaker 3: to be able to provide them with a family home
Speaker 3: through you know, your earnings from cricket. That must be special.
Speaker 1: It is, it is, it's super special. You know. I
Speaker 1: think hours from a kind of family which financially we
Speaker 1: are not as much good and we were struggling those days,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, like in Afghanistan having big families
Speaker 1: and if you're financially not well as well, then you
Speaker 1: might be struggling a lot. So I think luckily my
Speaker 1: brothers they were pretty good and they studied at that time.
Speaker 1: They didn't let theirselves down and they work hard and
Speaker 1: you know, they got us in a stage that we
Speaker 1: could be able to get whatever you want, you know,
Speaker 1: as a younger brother, or whenever you want anything, especially
Speaker 1: whenever I was in a kind of MOVI where I
Speaker 1: wanted to buy something for the cricket stuff things I needed,
Speaker 1: bad gloves, baths, you know, I think they were providing
Speaker 1: me all those things and they were buying for me,
Speaker 1: and that was something I kind of support I got
Speaker 1: from them that time, you know, and that was something
Speaker 1: which reached me to this stage. You know, they never
Speaker 1: let me down that no, we can't buy this, that
Speaker 1: you know, this supported me. They given me that old
Speaker 1: love and support which I needed. It was pretty hard
Speaker 1: from the moment dad to get that support because they
Speaker 1: were expecting me to obey a doctor, not a cricketer.
Speaker 1: But later on when they found out I'm pretty good
Speaker 1: in cricket and I can go ahead in this, then
Speaker 1: they were like mostly even my mom she became a
Speaker 1: coach for me, like when she was watching and then
Speaker 1: she was having a call me three after the game
Speaker 1: and she was telling me this is what you did
Speaker 1: growing and this is what and I was like super
Speaker 1: surprised because she never understand cricket. She never watched cricket,
Speaker 1: and since I was involved in the cricket, she was
Speaker 1: interested in it.
Speaker 3: What was the advice?
Speaker 1: I knew it like this is something I did wrong
Speaker 1: and she was just like reminding it to me. And
Speaker 1: I knew it that Yeah, if I bold rang, especially
Speaker 1: when I was playing against Western Indies anytime, she was
Speaker 1: telling me just be careful. They are like so powerful
Speaker 1: and so big.
Speaker 3: Oh moms, we love moms. Yeah, you mentioned earlier things
Speaker 3: weren't safe. What was it like in Afghanistan? And at
Speaker 3: the time, the.
Speaker 1: Thing was that time education I think, you know, we
Speaker 1: didn't have that people who were mainly focusing on education.
Speaker 1: And when there is no education, you know, there are
Speaker 1: some people in that community which uneducated and they can
Speaker 1: they can harm you, they can hurt you anytime. You know,
Speaker 1: they don't have that kind of respect for each other.
Speaker 1: And the safety wasn't there. You know, so many accidents
Speaker 1: happened those days. They're in the creek, you know, they
Speaker 1: fight and even they they used the guns in that time,
Speaker 1: just during the games, and so that was something so scary,
Speaker 1: you know, hearing those things those days, and that's why
Speaker 1: my family was not letting me to go and to
Speaker 1: play outside. They were like, maybe anything can happen. So
Speaker 1: those were the accidents happened those days. That's why it
Speaker 1: was super unsafe for me to go and play outside
Speaker 1: with the people who I don't know, anything can happen,
Speaker 1: And that's why they were like, you can play twenty
Speaker 1: four hours at home. We don't have any issue with that,
Speaker 1: but we're not letting you to go outside and play.
Speaker 1: You know, we don't know what's going to happen. And
Speaker 1: as I said, so many accidents that didn't allow us
Speaker 1: to play freely. We didn't have any academies, we didn't
Speaker 1: have any professional grounds. It was just like a local
Speaker 1: places we were playing. So that's why, you know, it
Speaker 1: wasn't safe for me to play outside and enjoy my cricket.
Speaker 3: Did you feel the war around you? Did you know
Speaker 3: it was there?
Speaker 1: Ah, To be honest, it was earlier. But the thing
Speaker 1: was it become normal for us. We got used to
Speaker 1: with that situation and in that environment, hearing about someone
Speaker 1: is skilled, someone dies some on this it was become usual.
Speaker 1: You know, it's just a normal routine for everyone. That
Speaker 1: was something which did allow me that, yes, I'm going
Speaker 1: to do something for my country because I have seen
Speaker 1: all those times, tough times and people struggling. I have
Speaker 1: seen the young generation which way they're going at the moment.
Speaker 1: They are totally different. They all have that education in
Speaker 1: the mind, sports in the mind, which I love to see.
Speaker 1: Those days, no education, no cricket, no sports, nothing, and
Speaker 1: this was the only thing happening. Like everyone's mind was
Speaker 1: in negative mind it. They didn't have those positive mindset
Speaker 1: that what I'm going to do for my country in future.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm just not letting myself to be in
Speaker 1: the same spot as other people. I have to be
Speaker 1: someone who does thing in the future just to make
Speaker 1: sure inspire someone and and do something for the young
Speaker 1: young kids, just to make sure their life is changed.
Speaker 1: And that's the only way we can change the country.
Speaker 1: With the education and with the sports. As long as
Speaker 1: we have these two at the top, I think we
Speaker 1: can compete any any country in the in the world.
Speaker 1: And I think that that the kind of belief I
Speaker 1: had in the But life was was very hard those days,
Speaker 1: you know, hearing about those accidents, the blast and things
Speaker 1: like that, it was scary. But yeah, a couple of
Speaker 1: times it happened, and I heard the voices of the blast.
Speaker 1: You know, when I was in in Carbule, I think
Speaker 1: we were an under nineteen camp and it was one
Speaker 1: thirty am and a blast happened. And to be honest,
Speaker 1: it was that loudie that I thought it just happened
Speaker 1: inside the cricket board. And we were three guys in
Speaker 1: the one room, so it was all like you know,
Speaker 1: blurry in the room. The dust was there in the room,
Speaker 1: and we couldn't like see each other, you know, like
Speaker 1: what happened? So sertainly, like five ten minutes. After five
Speaker 1: ten minutes, there was some noises outside, so many noises outside,
Speaker 1: and I thought like they might have blasted in the
Speaker 1: cricket board. They might come now and just like shoot us.
Speaker 1: You know, That's that's the kind of thing I had
Speaker 1: in the mind, the kind of movie I had in
Speaker 1: the mind. So I just closed the door. I closed
Speaker 1: the door like this, and I told my teammates just
Speaker 1: to like, let's see what happens. So after two three minutes,
Speaker 1: one of the trainers he was calling everyone that it's
Speaker 1: not here. It's like two three kilometers away from here,
Speaker 1: and the blasts happened. It's not here, just come out.
Speaker 1: So that night we all went outside. We were sitting
Speaker 1: in the middle of the ground on the wicket and
Speaker 1: was it happened around one thirty am, and we were
Speaker 1: in the ground till eight am, so we didn't sleep, like,
Speaker 1: we didn't come back to the rooms. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: heard the same I had the same accident again as
Speaker 1: well when I was in hundred nineteen, so a couple
Speaker 1: of times it happened. So yeah, those things were very
Speaker 1: unusual for us at the moment at the start, but
Speaker 1: we just got used to be that, you know, and
Speaker 1: then just become a normal routine.
Speaker 3: You say some of that with like a right smile
Speaker 3: on your face. What's going through your mind when you
Speaker 3: when you think about those times, because it sounds terrifying.
Speaker 1: It is, you know it is. But the thing is,
Speaker 1: like the only answer for that is just to keep
Speaker 1: smiling or just to be positive. I don't want to, like,
Speaker 1: you know, just to be someone give a different image
Speaker 1: to the country, you know. I just want, like, even
Speaker 1: in the field, you know, if I'm always trying my
Speaker 1: best to be someone who smiles or someone who bring
Speaker 1: lots of energy into the game, just to make sure
Speaker 1: like make my country proud, you know, just to make
Speaker 1: sure like people back home. Everyone is watching the game.
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter whatever I play, either I play in Australia,
Speaker 1: in India, in England, whatever I play, they don't miss
Speaker 1: my games. They watch each and every game. And I think,
Speaker 1: if I don't do something special in the field, you know,
Speaker 1: it means I'm not making him rout and I'm not
Speaker 1: doing something for my country, even a single wicket. They
Speaker 1: enjoy a lot. They have so much celebration back home,
Speaker 1: and we're just trying our best, you know, to bring
Speaker 1: lots of positive things to the country, just to make
Speaker 1: sure that people forget what happened in the past, just
Speaker 1: to give a different image. You know, what are the
Speaker 1: real people of Afghanistan. You know, I'm here, I'm representing
Speaker 1: my country and I have to be someone who bring
Speaker 1: the positive image of my country and positive image of
Speaker 1: the youngster. What are their hopes in what are their
Speaker 1: targets in future and what they want to be in future.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's something which I'm trying my best and
Speaker 1: I hope, I hope and I have that believe in future.
Speaker 1: You know, the sports, in our involvement in this, in
Speaker 1: this game, I think this can bring so much positive
Speaker 1: to my country. And one day I think will be
Speaker 1: a country will with high educated people and a country
Speaker 1: who people love to visit and they love to meet
Speaker 1: the people of the Afghanistan.
Speaker 3: I can promise you that when I think of you,
Speaker 3: the first thing I think about is your smile. The
Speaker 3: second thing I think about is how well you actually
Speaker 3: play the game, so your smile is synonymous with not
Speaker 3: just Afghanistan cricket, but with cricket in the world.
Speaker 1: Was it scary, definitely it was. It was so scary.
Speaker 1: You know when something's happening and you're watching those things
Speaker 1: on TV while you're at home, and suddenly those things
Speaker 1: happened in real life with you and you just remind
Speaker 1: those things, those memories, those things and those footage images
Speaker 1: comes out in front of your eyes. I think it
Speaker 1: is scary. It is so scary, but we've got used
Speaker 1: to with it, as I say, like, it becomes just
Speaker 1: a normal bit for us. And we feel so sorry
Speaker 1: being away from the country. Sometimes you hear about those
Speaker 1: things again and again, but we as a players, we
Speaker 1: can't do anything about that. You know, we're just trying
Speaker 1: our best to do something special just to make sure
Speaker 1: they forget what happened. Yesterday, what happened the other day,
Speaker 1: and we bring something positive today, And yeah, it is scary, definitely,
Speaker 1: even if you think about it, it's scary. And imagine
Speaker 1: if it happens in front of your eyes and you
Speaker 1: hurt the things. I think it's it's it's something. The
Speaker 1: sound of the blast, it never goes away from your mind.
Speaker 1: It's always there because that was a different sound and
Speaker 1: I never ever heard that kind of sound in my life.
Speaker 3: Yeah, can you still hear it now when you think
Speaker 3: when you're talking about it?
Speaker 1: Definitely I have those. You know, some accidents never go
Speaker 1: away from your mind. Some accident never go whenever, unlike
Speaker 1: you know, something happens back home, I do think about
Speaker 1: it will be the same voice as I heard. It
Speaker 1: will be the same as we just hope, you know,
Speaker 1: things get better and better and we don't see those
Speaker 1: things in future and just get things back to normal.
Speaker 3: Do you worry about your family back in Afghanistan?
Speaker 1: Sometimes you do worry about you know, there's definitely you
Speaker 1: know your family back home and you do worry about them,
Speaker 1: like you know, anytime, anything can happen. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, you can't do anything as well. We have
Speaker 1: that kind of strong mind. You know, if it happens
Speaker 1: as well, if it happens we I think everyone back
Speaker 1: home they mentally ready and they're mentally very strong as well.
Speaker 1: That is something which doesn't allow me to go away
Speaker 1: from my country, you know that. To be honest, I
Speaker 1: can't leave my country. Like I know it's not as
Speaker 1: safe for me, but still I can't. Like whenever I go,
Speaker 1: I'm going back home. Everyone is telling me, try to
Speaker 1: be careful, don't go, but I'm like, I can't leave.
Speaker 1: You know how you can live without your country, Like
Speaker 1: if I go anywhere around the world. You you've been
Speaker 1: in Ipa. Like you see when when when an Indian
Speaker 1: player coming into the ground, how much love he gets
Speaker 1: from his fines, how much they're cheering for him in
Speaker 1: that time. I think about imagine I'm playing in my
Speaker 1: home crowd and they're cheering for me the same and
Speaker 1: how good it would be. And that is something which
Speaker 1: I want that to hear those noises in future and
Speaker 1: I have a strong believe in myself that I can
Speaker 1: I can do in Shallah. If I know we have
Speaker 1: that positive mindset, strong mind, one day it will come
Speaker 1: that we will be a country playing in Afanistan. You
Speaker 1: will will be hosting international teams and I have that
Speaker 1: belief that that will happen one day and I want
Speaker 1: to hear those those noises and I want to hear
Speaker 1: people cheering for me. Yeah, I heard from every other countries.
Speaker 1: I heard in in Australia. I mean, I'm playing in Adelte.
Speaker 1: The love I'm getting from the fans, it's unbelievable, but
Speaker 1: I want those in Afghanistan as well, and I hope
Speaker 1: it will happen in future.
Speaker 3: It brings a tear to my eye quite literally because
Speaker 3: it's no but it's such a beautiful Your love for
Speaker 3: your country comes across so strongly that you know the
Speaker 3: image you paint of that day one day walking onto
Speaker 3: a field and hearing.
Speaker 1: It's like more than a dream for me. You know,
Speaker 1: it's a dream of every player to be playing international
Speaker 1: cricket representing your country. But a dream of mine is
Speaker 1: see the international team coming to Afghanistan and playing international game.
Speaker 1: That's that's a dream of everyone back home, and I
Speaker 1: think that will bring so much peace to Afghanistan.
Speaker 3: Sport can can unify people and bring about social change,
Speaker 3: that's for sure. You mentioned about going home and people
Speaker 3: say you have to stay safe. What is it like
Speaker 3: being a really recognizable face going back home. What are
Speaker 3: some of the precautions you have to take.
Speaker 1: Well, actually, it's not something which is unsafe for me
Speaker 1: because I'm someone and I feel like I'm a good
Speaker 1: image of Afghanistan. I haven't done anything bad to Afghanistan.
Speaker 1: I haven't hurt anyone, I haven't killed anyone, and I
Speaker 1: haven't done anything wrong. And I always make my country
Speaker 1: proud and people back home, everyone loves me. Everyone gives
Speaker 1: me so much respect when I go back home. You know,
Speaker 1: whenever I'm going in the car in Afghanistan, I have
Speaker 1: seen people they just come across of me. They park
Speaker 1: their car and they just say, can't go. They come out.
Speaker 1: You have to take picture with me, And I have
Speaker 1: did that in the past. People on motorcycles they come
Speaker 1: ahead of me just like stop and I get down
Speaker 1: off my car and I take pictures with them. And
Speaker 1: that's what they love. They don't care like they take
Speaker 1: permissions from you just when I say no, because they
Speaker 1: want they want to meet you, they want to take
Speaker 1: pictures with you. And it's not about from that point
Speaker 1: of view that there are some people who hates me,
Speaker 1: who wants me. No, No, it's not about that. I
Speaker 1: just worry about to be safe is that maybe you
Speaker 1: are in the wrong sport, wrong place, wrong time, and
Speaker 1: that is something which you worry. Otherwise, for sportsmen there
Speaker 1: is so much love. As I said, unsafe means maybe
Speaker 1: I'm in the wrong time, wrong place, and who knows
Speaker 1: who I'm there, and something happens, something maybe planned for
Speaker 1: someone else and I'm there. That is something which we
Speaker 1: worry otherwise for us, we haven't heard anything about the
Speaker 1: sports person that they hurt someone, they kidnap someone, they
Speaker 1: kill someone. No, no, no accident like that happened. As
Speaker 1: I said, if someone knows that I'm here, seriously, it
Speaker 1: well be like everyone will be a kind of security
Speaker 1: person for me, will be a kind of body out
Speaker 1: for me. That much they they want us to be
Speaker 1: safe and secure.
Speaker 3: Just a big deal that everyone wants a selfie.
Speaker 1: With Yeah, yeah, exactly, and it's it's massive. You can't
Speaker 1: say no to them. You can say no anywhere else,
Speaker 1: but in Afghanistan you can't say no. They will take selfie.
Speaker 1: Whatever happens. If it takes one hour, you have to say.
Speaker 1: You have to stay that much like they are. If
Speaker 1: you don't, they will hate you the most. That's the
Speaker 1: that's the thing that they're there. But that's the only
Speaker 1: thing that I have seen in those people, the love,
Speaker 1: you know, And that's why I want to play there.
Speaker 1: That's why I want to play in front of those
Speaker 1: people in this crowd.
Speaker 3: You're listening to ordinarily speaking with Rashid Khan. Tell me
Speaker 3: about your dad and what Hay was like to you
Speaker 3: growing up.
Speaker 1: Oh, very strict, someone who always wanted me to study
Speaker 1: zero or zeno and allmenting any sports. He was someone
Speaker 1: who angry.
Speaker 3: You say this with a small on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what I am at the moment is just because
Speaker 1: of him. You know, he grew up me in a
Speaker 1: kind of envolvement. He saved me from outside, you know,
Speaker 1: to go to be a bad guy in the street.
Speaker 1: I think he helped me a lot, and he helped
Speaker 1: all of us, all of our brothers. We're so lucky.
Speaker 1: We miss him a lot everyone. You know, whatever I am,
Speaker 1: wherever I am, I think it's all about him. The
Speaker 1: way he grew up me, in the way he did
Speaker 1: all the world for me.
Speaker 3: Do you reflect now as an adult and appreciate more
Speaker 3: what your parents did and what they sacrificed for you exactly.
Speaker 1: You know. I think what they have sacrifice in sacrifice
Speaker 1: in the past for us is is massive. You know.
Speaker 1: They they were in a place when it was war
Speaker 1: in Afghanistan, a series war. It was there and they
Speaker 1: were all there. My family was there, my mom and dad.
Speaker 1: We used to tell the stories and it's so scary. Seriously,
Speaker 1: it's so so scary. Like I was like, how you
Speaker 1: guys lived that time? You know, how you guys survived
Speaker 1: those times. When my mom and dad they're telling us
Speaker 1: the stories of their time, it's unbelievable. It's very unbelievable,
Speaker 1: like the stories they tell us. At the moment, it's
Speaker 1: ninety percent safer than it was before because they have
Speaker 1: seen the war. They have seen everything happening in front
Speaker 1: of their eyes. They have seen when they have migrated
Speaker 1: from Afghanistan to Pakistan, and they have seen all those
Speaker 1: tough time. I think that is something which gives me
Speaker 1: that energy that yes, my family had faced all those
Speaker 1: tough times, all those sacrifices, all those things. I think
Speaker 1: I should make them proud now and I should be
Speaker 1: someone who does something in future that yes, he should
Speaker 1: be proud of that. Yes, I have grown up a
Speaker 1: kid who has done something for the country. And that's something.
Speaker 1: My dad was so happy about that because he never
Speaker 1: understood cricket. He never watched cricket. The only thing he
Speaker 1: was asking what my mom was he won't he lost,
Speaker 1: That's the only thing he was he was asking her.
Speaker 1: Otherwise he was not understanding what I'm doing. I'm a
Speaker 1: bowl of batsman, no no knowledge. Whenever you when I
Speaker 1: had a good game, good performance, all my reality, they
Speaker 1: used to call him and congratulate him, and he was
Speaker 1: like feeling so proud those days, like look, everyone is scoring,
Speaker 1: it means you have done something good. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: think they're all hard work. I'm lucky one that I
Speaker 1: got this opportunity to make them more and more proud.
Speaker 1: And I will do that in.
Speaker 3: Future as well, even though you're not a doctor.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that was that was something they said. After
Speaker 1: I got into the cricket. They were like, okay, you
Speaker 1: have the skills and talent. Especially my mom said, we
Speaker 1: are happy to have you a cricketive dinner. Doctor.
Speaker 3: Now, what kind of stories would they tell you that
Speaker 3: you that you were just talking about, well.
Speaker 1: You know, especially what was happening in the war. They
Speaker 1: were like going from one place to another place in
Speaker 1: Afghanistan just to make sure they're safe during the war.
Speaker 1: And when I was hearing from them, I was feeling
Speaker 1: so scary. How it's like a movie. You're watching a
Speaker 1: movie and things are happening in the movie and you
Speaker 1: think it's a movie, it's not real. But when they
Speaker 1: were telling us, it was real, like it was a
Speaker 1: real stories and it happened in front of their eyes.
Speaker 1: You know, I lost my relatives in those times and
Speaker 1: those wars, and yeah, it's it's it's it's something like
Speaker 1: most of the things they were not sharing, like they
Speaker 1: didn't want us to be hurt. We had a family
Speaker 1: which wasn't that much financially good as well, and we
Speaker 1: were struggling those days. But my dad he didn't let
Speaker 1: himself down. He just migrated to mix and he lived
Speaker 1: there for some time and things were getting better. Then
Speaker 1: my brothers they weren't there. They lived there, so they
Speaker 1: came back to Afghanistan because they said, no, we love
Speaker 1: the country, we love there, we grown up, we born here,
Speaker 1: so we cannot leave Afghanistan. My brothers were there just
Speaker 1: to let them to study and just to make sure
Speaker 1: they have a good future. Yeah, that was something which
Speaker 1: we were just imagining, like, oh, how hard it would
Speaker 1: have been, like burning the houses of the people. Things
Speaker 1: like that were happening. And recently three years, two years,
Speaker 1: two and a half years back, I went to my
Speaker 1: village when my mom passed away, so I had to
Speaker 1: go and see my village and stuff. So I saw
Speaker 1: all those places where I was grown up a little bit.
Speaker 1: And I have seen the house which my mom and
Speaker 1: dad they were living in that and I've seen that
Speaker 1: are like, how hard it should I be in those days,
Speaker 1: you know, living in this place. So yeah, you can
Speaker 1: imagine their life, how hard it would be. But we,
Speaker 1: as said, we are so lucky now to make them
Speaker 1: more and more proud, and just to make sure that
Speaker 1: all the hard work they have done for us, all
Speaker 1: the sacrifices we make sure we pay. We cannot pay
Speaker 1: that back, but we can make them more and more proud.
Speaker 3: They sound like incredible people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think how strong they were, and even we
Speaker 1: are not half of that. How strong they were, you know,
Speaker 1: and you can imagine how how mentally strong there he
Speaker 1: would have been, and might dad he was like around
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five. But he wasn't like looking like that
Speaker 1: that he he's this age because he mostly worked in
Speaker 1: the farmer and things like that. He was like very
Speaker 1: healthy and he never looked like to be that old.
Speaker 1: And they were the strongest people I have ever seen. Yah.
Speaker 3: Did I inspire you when you play?
Speaker 1: Definitely? You know. I think those are the things which
Speaker 1: always gives me energy. You know, I think about those things.
Speaker 1: It gives me energy. And I think I should never forget.
Speaker 1: As long as I have those memories in my mind.
Speaker 1: You know, I won't be someone who failed. One thing
Speaker 1: was told to me by my mom. Never forget where
Speaker 1: you comes from. You will go so far. And that
Speaker 1: is something I always have in my mind that yes,
Speaker 1: wherever I reach, whatever the performance I do, anything happens
Speaker 1: in my cricket career, I'm on the top. She said,
Speaker 1: the good person. You are the good person. We have
Speaker 1: grown you up and we know you how good you are.
Speaker 1: My mom was always telling me you are totally different
Speaker 1: than all your other brothers. Like you as someone who
Speaker 1: never give me those bad days. She was telling me, no,
Speaker 1: never ever, and you always did everything for yourself, coming
Speaker 1: washing for yourself. Things were doing for yourself. You never
Speaker 1: tell me that pack the bags for me. Nothing. You
Speaker 1: always did everything by yourself, and that was something she
Speaker 1: was loving the most in me. So yeah, and that's
Speaker 1: what she said. You have to remain the same how
Speaker 1: you are. I as soon you forget this, you will
Speaker 1: in trouble.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's something I would always have in my mind.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that. Tell me about the day that
Speaker 3: you found out about your dad when you were playing
Speaker 3: for the Strikers. How did you find out and how
Speaker 3: hard was that moment for you?
Speaker 1: It was It was something like unbelievable, you know. I
Speaker 1: never ever like I was. I was just before the
Speaker 1: practice tomorrow was the new night game. I took a shower,
Speaker 1: I came out of my room. I got like fifty
Speaker 1: calls from my brother. Three brothers they called me, and
Speaker 1: I was like, I hope everything is all right because
Speaker 1: they never called me that. Like they called me once.
Speaker 1: If I don't attend, they say, like he might be busy,
Speaker 1: he leave me a message, but they would keep calling me.
Speaker 1: And I was going back to stadium. So during the drive,
Speaker 1: I just called my brother. I wanted to I just
Speaker 1: wanted to talk, and he told me like and that
Speaker 1: is not okay, you know, like what happened? Is everything good?
Speaker 1: He said, like he's in ICU and you have to
Speaker 1: be mentally ready if anything happens. And to be honest,
Speaker 1: I don't know how to say, like it was like
Speaker 1: end of the world for me. Like I went like,
Speaker 1: what happened is? Like I said, can I have a
Speaker 1: video call just to make sure I see him? He said,
Speaker 1: You're not allowed to go into the ICU, and I
Speaker 1: was telling him like again and again, no, I just
Speaker 1: want to see him once and I just want to
Speaker 1: talk to him, like I talked to him like for before,
Speaker 1: and he talked to me like half an hour, and
Speaker 1: I said, like I was about to buy for him
Speaker 1: things from here, so I asked him, what's the shoes number?
Speaker 1: And he told me that and I was about to
Speaker 1: buy his shoes for him. So I said, no, I
Speaker 1: want to see him. I want to talk to him.
Speaker 1: And my brother was like, no, you can't because he's
Speaker 1: an ICO. I was like what to do? And I
Speaker 1: get into the ground. The guys were there. They were
Speaker 1: like about to start practice and I sit there and
Speaker 1: I like crying there and I was like, what's happened?
Speaker 1: So one hour after I was just in, my brother
Speaker 1: called me like he's no more and and I don't know,
Speaker 1: like it was a totally different feeling. You know, when
Speaker 1: you are at home, it's different when you have your
Speaker 1: brothers around, everyone is around, and things happen in front
Speaker 1: of you, it's different. But when you are here far
Speaker 1: away and things happen. Because I haven't seen my dad
Speaker 1: for four years, I never met him in four years.
Speaker 1: Last time I met him was in two thousand and sixty.
Speaker 1: And in that when I'm too far and I can't
Speaker 1: get there on time to see him as well, because
Speaker 1: the moment I'm getting everything will be done there. And
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know how how those days
Speaker 1: went off, but I think Mom was the only person
Speaker 1: who who really helped me in that day. That night
Speaker 1: and she kept having that video call with me, and
Speaker 1: she was like, no, I can't leave you like this.
Speaker 1: I want to video call you all the time and
Speaker 1: just to make sure you're okay. Mom was like, if
Speaker 1: you want to make me happy, you want to make
Speaker 1: that happy, you must play tomorrow's game. And I was like,
Speaker 1: I won't be able even to get into the ground.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like different feeling, you don't know know,
Speaker 1: Like she's like, no, whatever the feeling is, you have
Speaker 1: to go and you have to play the game that
Speaker 1: will give us so much a bit smile as well
Speaker 1: and give us a bit of energy inside, and you
Speaker 1: have to do it and we all support you. So
Speaker 1: I think, you know, that's something which did allow me
Speaker 1: to play that game as well. I wasn't mentally totally
Speaker 1: ready for it, Like how am I going to go
Speaker 1: and play a game when that passed away the same night?
Speaker 1: So yeah, but then I decided, yes, I will play
Speaker 1: just for you from my family, and yeah, those were
Speaker 1: the very hard days. And yeah, it's so hard when
Speaker 1: you're away from home. You hear about this accident and
Speaker 1: you have nothing to do. You know, hard days just
Speaker 1: comes and goes, but it never goes away from your mind.
Speaker 3: That not am I right in saying that the players
Speaker 3: really supported you and sort of became like a pseudo family.
Speaker 1: I guess exactly exactly. I think the guys those days,
Speaker 1: they really supported me, especially my teammates. And I mentioned Sid,
Speaker 1: you know, he came to my room. He was with
Speaker 1: me in my room till late and he was there.
Speaker 1: And I think that given me so much calmness and
Speaker 1: things to smile about it and just to think about
Speaker 1: the good memories I had with my diary and know
Speaker 1: just about those things. And that's why I always kept
Speaker 1: myself around that family, a striker's family, because they have
Speaker 1: given me so much love, so much during the tough
Speaker 1: time I faced, and they have given me all the
Speaker 1: love and support. And it was hard days I think
Speaker 1: those guys were. If they were not there with me,
Speaker 1: I think would have been so hard. Even I was
Speaker 1: lucky to have Forward that time as well. Forward he
Speaker 1: was with Strikers, Scotch's team, and he came up as
Speaker 1: well that night with me. He was sitting whole night
Speaker 1: like three am with me till three am and we
Speaker 1: were just there and lucky he came and as we
Speaker 1: speak the same language Pashto, so that was something which
Speaker 1: really helped me that night as well. But yeah, still
Speaker 1: it was one of the toughest nights ever I had.
Speaker 1: After a week, I went back home just for one
Speaker 1: day and do the prayer for them, and I did
Speaker 1: one day in carbul In, one day in my own village.
Speaker 1: I've been there, my old family was there.
Speaker 3: So how emotional was that it was.
Speaker 1: It was so hard, you know, so hard to go
Speaker 1: back home and without your dad and and and you
Speaker 1: get into the family. I think it's so so it
Speaker 1: looks so empty everything, you know, everything was so like meaningless,
Speaker 1: like even the moment I get to my country. So
Speaker 1: my little brother, he was someone who was very close
Speaker 1: to that, and he was so down and like, you know,
Speaker 1: those days, he was having us so so bad days,
Speaker 1: and Mom was used to calling me that, please you
Speaker 1: talk with him. He's like very unwell and he's so
Speaker 1: much crying every day and he can't get out of
Speaker 1: his bed and he's just like there and crying, and
Speaker 1: you know, I was like okay. So luckily, luckily in
Speaker 1: those days, I tried to get him Australian viza. So
Speaker 1: I submitted everything for him, and luckily I got a
Speaker 1: visa for him. It was so hard here to get
Speaker 1: a visa, but my team they did a wonderful job
Speaker 1: that gave him a visa, and then I just booked
Speaker 1: a flight for him. I took him to Australia just
Speaker 1: to make sure, like his mind is, this was his
Speaker 1: dream to come to Australia, and I wanted to like
Speaker 1: just give him that kind of time, you know, just
Speaker 1: to make sure he's a bit fresh. And he spent
Speaker 1: around twenty days here with me. He had been to
Speaker 1: every city. I just booked to flights for him every year.
Speaker 1: He in all the cities. He enjoyed a lot, and
Speaker 1: then he went back and just yeah, just wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure he's good and wellin And Mom was like,
Speaker 1: you have to take care of him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're making my big brothers sound really bad. Now
Speaker 3: I'm going to tell them that they need to pay
Speaker 3: for me to go to a troop.
Speaker 1: And you. And my brother was like, no, I cannot
Speaker 1: come in the economy. You have to book me a
Speaker 1: business class and I was like business class he said.
Speaker 1: I said, why you're young, you know you can come
Speaker 1: in the economy. He said, no, I have a back
Speaker 1: problem and he said book me. And it was a
Speaker 1: funny accident happened those days as well when I booked
Speaker 1: him a flight. So he came to Dubai. So he
Speaker 1: said he had a like sixteen hours stay and I
Speaker 1: told him, look, sixteen hours stay, you can stay in
Speaker 1: the airport and then you catch the next night. He said, no,
Speaker 1: get me Zubay visa. I want to go outside. I
Speaker 1: was like, book me a room outside as well. I
Speaker 1: want to go. And I was like okay, I booked
Speaker 1: a room. I got him a visa, booked a room outside,
Speaker 1: called my friend there to pick him from the airport,
Speaker 1: get him to the hotel. He was taken to the hotel,
Speaker 1: he slept. He went to the Dubai mall as well.
Speaker 1: And here I be shopping.
Speaker 3: Which you paid for.
Speaker 1: He said, I will take from you when I come there.
Speaker 1: I have to. So when he came, I received him
Speaker 1: in Adelete airport. I got into the car and he's
Speaker 1: like do you know I said, no, what he said?
Speaker 1: I forgot my wallet and money in there and Aba
Speaker 1: hotel and I was like, what how did you do that?
Speaker 1: He said, I forgot it in the on the bed.
Speaker 1: And I said, did he chase him? He said no,
Speaker 1: how I can chase because I was in the flight
Speaker 1: and I reminded in the flight that I forgot my wallet.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, and here is like, I don't have
Speaker 1: anything now, and he grabbed my card and he was leaving.
Speaker 1: He gave me empty. He he he had like twenty
Speaker 1: five thirty thousand money that he has eaten in twenty.
Speaker 3: Days twenty thousand Australian.
Speaker 1: Twenty twenty five, thirty thousand Australian.
Speaker 3: He's had a good holidaye oh my.
Speaker 1: He was like buying everything. When he was going back,
Speaker 1: he had ninety kg. He bought everything for everyone and
Speaker 1: I was like, this is your first in last three
Speaker 1: I was like, no, I'm not gonna. And even this
Speaker 1: year he was talling I want to go. I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: my card doesn't have that much.
Speaker 2: Now that is such a good story a lot.
Speaker 1: Of us so funny. I still remind him and I
Speaker 1: never told this to my elder brother that he has
Speaker 1: eaten that much money. Never ever.
Speaker 3: Now they're gonna want to treat.
Speaker 1: That was funny.
Speaker 3: What's the longest you've gone from, you know, not being
Speaker 3: able to get home? And how tough is that not
Speaker 3: being able to get home?
Speaker 1: Oh well, it's it's so hard, you know. I think
Speaker 1: in two thousand and sixteen eight, you know, I got
Speaker 1: a bit more busy and I wanted to play more cricket.
Speaker 1: You know, I was going from one place to another
Speaker 1: and kept myself busy. I just wanted to my cricket
Speaker 1: to be more improved.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: I get the kind of experience in different environment different countries,
Speaker 1: and you.
Speaker 3: Got to pay off the credit card bill.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have to have to because I knew that
Speaker 1: I have a big family. You know, they're gonna take
Speaker 1: me at any any stage. So yeah, that I had
Speaker 1: like three and a half years was a long time
Speaker 1: that I haven't been home when the COVID started. So
Speaker 1: then I went back home and I had like five
Speaker 1: months at home, which was the longest, longest time. My
Speaker 1: mom she got COVID and she passed away as well.
Speaker 1: In those days, that was like a different of a
Speaker 1: couple of months for me, all of a sudden, like
Speaker 1: she just passed away, and in seventeen days she got
Speaker 1: sick and she was absolutely okay, like nothing was wrong
Speaker 1: with her. And we had the best three months together
Speaker 1: because we spent one month in the bai Way. You
Speaker 1: stuck here. We were supposed to go to I was
Speaker 1: supposed to go to Ipil, so I called my family
Speaker 1: to come to Dube for a week, and then suddenly
Speaker 1: the IPIL was postponed because of the cod so we
Speaker 1: struck in Doba for one month and then the flight
Speaker 1: was started to Afghanistan, so we went back home to Afghanistan,
Speaker 1: so she was there with me like three and a
Speaker 1: half months and then suddenly this happened, and then yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a very different different two months for me.
Speaker 1: Then still people were coming like for two months to
Speaker 1: my home for the prayer and just to pray for her.
Speaker 3: And so your mom died of COVID.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she passed away because of cod Yeah. It was
Speaker 1: like unbelievable, Like she passed away like in front of
Speaker 1: my eyes. I was like totally shout, you know, I
Speaker 1: couldn't see like how it happened. It has been around
Speaker 1: one and a half year she passed away, and still
Speaker 1: I still can't sleep, like in a night, even last night,
Speaker 1: I slept around four him Like this is my normal
Speaker 1: normal now, Like I can't sleep every time I go
Speaker 1: to bed. She just comes like in the eyes and
Speaker 1: I just the time when she passed away, I think
Speaker 1: that just comes in front of my eyes, and I
Speaker 1: just have those those days she was sick, and I
Speaker 1: think it just comes in my mind and I can't sleep,
Speaker 1: Like it's so hard, like to.
Speaker 3: Sleep because you see her in her last price.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I just see her. I just see her at
Speaker 1: the last moment she looked at to me and she's
Speaker 1: just gone, like and I can't really just like get
Speaker 1: out of the out of my mind. It was like
Speaker 1: seven days, seventeen days. I was with her in the
Speaker 1: bed she was sick, and I thought, she's totally okay,
Speaker 1: and the same day she passed away. She was okay,
Speaker 1: like I had to call the doctor tested. Everything was okay,
Speaker 1: everything was okay. The doctor said to me, if she's normal,
Speaker 1: she's okay. And suddenly like she had a brief problem.
Speaker 1: So the oxygen level it came from ninety eight to
Speaker 1: forty eight, and then it came thirty six. And that
Speaker 1: day she wanting what did all those things which is
Speaker 1: unhealthy for her? That I want this, I want this.
Speaker 1: And I was upstairs and I had a call with
Speaker 1: one of the doctor online call just to tell him
Speaker 1: like this is her situation at the moment. And my
Speaker 1: sister came in. She said she want salt, and salt
Speaker 1: is not good for her at the moment, and she
Speaker 1: wanted badly, and can you please come and you tell her,
Speaker 1: because whatever you tell she said, okay, I said, okay.
Speaker 1: I came down. I told her, look, salt is not
Speaker 1: good for you. I'm gonna go and make a fresh
Speaker 1: juice for you. And have that juice, and she was
Speaker 1: looking to me like this, and I still remember she said,
Speaker 1: if you give me poison as when, I will take that,
Speaker 1: because that much I love you and I'm not taking salt.
Speaker 1: I just give me whatever you want to give me.
Speaker 1: And I just went up and I just grabbed the
Speaker 1: orange and I made orange juice for her. So that
Speaker 1: was the last juice he had in and he had
Speaker 1: the juice, and I went up again for one hour,
Speaker 1: like I was on coal and things. So suddenly I
Speaker 1: heard like my sister cry and I just throw the
Speaker 1: food and I just came down, like what happened. So
Speaker 1: doctor was there as well, so I came inside the
Speaker 1: room and she was like struggling, and I said, everything okay,
Speaker 1: not is like she's serious now, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I couldn't really what's happening. And it happened like in
Speaker 1: four or five minutes, like everything just gone. And Doctor
Speaker 1: looked to me like he's she's no more, you know.
Speaker 1: I was like, like I can't believe it. In the
Speaker 1: last time she looked at me like this, and she
Speaker 1: just turned out his head and then old hen. Now
Speaker 1: that afternoon never goes away from my mind. It's I said,
Speaker 1: it's like unbelievable. You know, after two days when she
Speaker 1: passed away, it happened like in real, real, real life
Speaker 1: with me. After two days. I never shared this. I
Speaker 1: only shared this with my sisters, like when this accident
Speaker 1: happened with me. After two days, I was sleeping and
Speaker 1: I just woke up and I just told my little
Speaker 1: brother he was there with me as well, that look
Speaker 1: after them all. I'm coming. I'm just going to go
Speaker 1: to the washroom. This is after two days she passed away,
Speaker 1: and he woke up and he's looking to me like this,
Speaker 1: that what happened to this guy. I went to the
Speaker 1: washroom there I realize, why did I told my brother
Speaker 1: to wake up? And what did I say to him?
Speaker 1: So I was thinking in the washroom, I was just thinking.
Speaker 1: I was like, why did I woke him up? I
Speaker 1: came back to my room and I was like smiling
Speaker 1: to him and I said, what did I say to you?
Speaker 1: He said, you told me look after the moment, and
Speaker 1: that's what I was telling him when she was sick,
Speaker 1: when I was taking a bit of break, I was
Speaker 1: telling him to come. I was just dreaming her to
Speaker 1: be here, and that's why I told you to look
Speaker 1: after her and I went there. There I realized what
Speaker 1: I'm doing. So I think those are the things happening
Speaker 1: with me, and it's still happening. Whenever I have a
Speaker 1: bit of sleep. It's so hard, like to go in
Speaker 1: that deep sleep and have a long sleep. I don't
Speaker 1: remember when the last time, like I had that good sleep.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's so so hard. It's so hard, you know,
Speaker 1: to lose your parents. Because what I was missing the
Speaker 1: most was the video call with my mom. I was
Speaker 1: having like five hours, six hours, seven hours. The longest
Speaker 1: I had was eleven hours video called with her eleven hours.
Speaker 1: That was the longest video call I had with her.
Speaker 1: We never get bored, like I just keep my phone there,
Speaker 1: video call, I'm doing everything, eating everything. Poond is on,
Speaker 1: she's on the cold, and yeah, I have so many
Speaker 1: best memories. But it's pretty hard to get that day
Speaker 1: out of my mind. Do you miss her so much? Yeah,
Speaker 1: as I said, the video call you're having discussing the
Speaker 1: things about the games, I think that's something which I
Speaker 1: missed aumotion and whenever I do perform I come back
Speaker 1: to my room, I do miss that call. Like, yeah,
Speaker 1: she was calling me and telling me, yes, you did
Speaker 1: that thing right, this thing right, and you have to
Speaker 1: do that. So yeah, I do miss I do miss
Speaker 1: those days in those goals.
Speaker 3: Yeah, even though it was traumatic for you to say that,
Speaker 3: are you glad that you were there with her?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm so glad that I spent the last four
Speaker 1: or five months with her and I did all the
Speaker 1: things which everyone wants to do for their parents at
Speaker 1: the end when she was sick, those days you look
Speaker 1: after her. I still remember that one night it was
Speaker 1: four am and I was still in her bed and
Speaker 1: I was just like messaging her legs and she woke
Speaker 1: up at that time and opened her eyes. She looked
Speaker 1: to the watch and she like, it's four am. I
Speaker 1: said yeah, and she said, like, you haven't slept yet.
Speaker 1: I said, no, I will sleep when you get bitter,
Speaker 1: because I keep looking to the oxygion and everything just
Speaker 1: to make sure everything is fine. I said, that's why
Speaker 1: I'm not sleeping. And that day, that night, that moment,
Speaker 1: the prayers she did for me was unbelievable, and that
Speaker 1: was something I like, Yes, this is going to take
Speaker 1: me to the next level, because getting those blessings from
Speaker 1: your parents at that time from prayers from your parents.
Speaker 1: I think it's more than anything you want in this world.
Speaker 1: What I am at the moment when I have reached
Speaker 1: it's all about her prayers. I think she prayed for
Speaker 1: me a lot every day.
Speaker 3: Is that what drives you now?
Speaker 1: Yeah? It is definitely. That's why I'm more confident on myself. Like, yes,
Speaker 1: when you have those prayers blessings, I think you just
Speaker 1: need to have that positive mindset and just keep smiling,
Speaker 1: keeping enjoy and keep making them proud.
Speaker 3: That's exactly what you're doing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's Yeah, it is definitely they're watching me,
Speaker 1: but I need to make them more and more proud
Speaker 1: and just to make sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there couldn't be a more powerful thing to be
Speaker 3: motivated by her. I can't imagine exactly.
Speaker 1: It's it's more than a motivation for me and those
Speaker 1: times that made me mentally so strong as well.
Speaker 3: The legacy that you're leaving not just for your family
Speaker 3: but for your country. It must be so much weight
Speaker 3: on someone's shoulders, But how much does it mean to
Speaker 3: you as well to have that ability to hopefully change,
Speaker 3: you know, a country.
Speaker 1: It's a massive weight on me, all the country, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's just about for me is to keep it
Speaker 1: simple for myself. You know, I know my ability. What
Speaker 1: can I do? And I have to be and those limits.
Speaker 1: I can just like make a country in one night
Speaker 1: at the highest level, as long as my process remains
Speaker 1: the same and my hard work remain the same. I
Speaker 1: think I will have failures in my life, but that
Speaker 1: will be something a great motivation for me, and that
Speaker 1: will be a best opportunity for me to learn. And
Speaker 1: I did because I had so much failure in my
Speaker 1: cricket career and I learned from that and that made
Speaker 1: me mentally so strong, and that made me that what
Speaker 1: should be my reaction in future if I get the
Speaker 1: same day, if I get the same failure, what should
Speaker 1: be my reaction to that? And I think I never
Speaker 1: worry about the failure. Now I just worry about and
Speaker 1: I'm so excited about when I'm going to make my
Speaker 1: country more and more proud each in every game. That
Speaker 1: is something which I always have in my mind.
Speaker 3: You started this conversation by saying you want to be
Speaker 3: known as a good person and not a great cricketer.
Speaker 3: Before we came into this, I got one of your
Speaker 3: great mates that you've mentioned through this, Peter Siddle to
Speaker 3: record a little message for you, so we'll have a
Speaker 3: listen to that.
Speaker 4: Good afternoon, Nez Rash. I hope the interview went well.
Speaker 4: Rash just firstly want to say thanks for doing this
Speaker 4: interview with Nez. She was super excited about interviewing you,
Speaker 4: and her podcasts have been a great success with all
Speaker 4: the people that she's done it with. I'm lucky enough
Speaker 4: that five years ago I signed at the Adelaide Strikers
Speaker 4: and so did Rash. So to be able to then
Speaker 4: become teammates was exciting for me because I knew what
Speaker 4: type of player he was. What I've grown to realize
Speaker 4: and be able to experience is that it's not about
Speaker 4: a player or what he does for teams out in
Speaker 4: the field. It's about him as an individual and how
Speaker 4: good a person he is, not just two teammates but
Speaker 4: even opposition, but more importantly, how much he loves and
Speaker 4: cherishes and what he does for his family. You know,
Speaker 4: he comes from a tough background, tough stuff goes on
Speaker 4: back in his home country, but this love and support
Speaker 4: that he has for his family and what he's done
Speaker 4: throughout his journey is quite special and amazing. So Rash,
Speaker 4: I just want to compliment you on what you are
Speaker 4: as a human, a good friend to me, all the
Speaker 4: Strikers family and teammates, and I think it shows what
Speaker 4: type of person you are by the love that you
Speaker 4: get not just here in Adelaide, but all the fans
Speaker 4: around Australia and I know the world that cherish you
Speaker 4: for what you do, what you represent, and I think
Speaker 4: by doing this podcast with narrowly hopefully you know it
Speaker 4: is an amazing story and it's that's something that the
Speaker 4: public deserve to hear and will love you even.
Speaker 1: More for hearing.
Speaker 4: Thank you very much for doing this, not for yourself
Speaker 4: and Nirz, but yeah, more like I said, more importantly
Speaker 4: for the general and wider community that will love hearing
Speaker 4: about your journey today. But yeah, I just want to
Speaker 4: thank you for your friendship, your love, and I know
Speaker 4: that it's going to be a long friendship had long
Speaker 4: after to the plying days.
Speaker 1: Love you Buss so sweet, Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: The love is real.
Speaker 1: Definitely. As I said, I'm so lucky, you know, to
Speaker 1: have such people around me. They have given me so
Speaker 1: much love, so much respect. Seriously, you know, I'm so lucky.
Speaker 1: You know, I've seen him or playing for Australia Test trick.
Speaker 1: It saw his hat trick and on his birthday was
Speaker 1: special and I found one of the best friend. I
Speaker 1: can count on him anytime and he's someone who is
Speaker 1: always there to help. And I think I'm so lucky
Speaker 1: to have the quality of the people and to know
Speaker 1: this beautiful family, Striker's family. Yeah, I'm so blessing, so
Speaker 1: so so lucky to choose that team.
Speaker 3: They're lucky to have you. Thank you for being so
Speaker 3: generous with your time and your memories as well. It
Speaker 3: is so inspiring what you've done. And I really hope
Speaker 3: you get that dream one day of walking out in
Speaker 3: front of your home crowd in your home country.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's something. It will be more than a
Speaker 1: dream that you play international cricket in Afghanistan. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: then all the world will see the real amateur of
Speaker 1: Afghanistan and the love of the people. I think they
Speaker 1: love cricket, they love sports, and they have so much
Speaker 1: passion about the sports and they love every cricket around
Speaker 1: the world playing cricket. So it will be massive if
Speaker 1: you get that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hope that happens for you.
Speaker 1: And your family. Hopefully it happened in my career.
Speaker 3: Thanks again, Rashet, I really appreciate it all.
Speaker 1: Its pleasure.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to this episode of Ordinarily Speaking. If
Speaker 3: you enjoyed this chat, you may also like to check
Speaker 3: out earlier episodes with fellow cricketers Peter Siddle, Glenn Maxwell,
Speaker 3: Dale Stain, Nathan Lyon, Moses Henriquez, Ashton Ager and Jess Jonathan.
Speaker 3: They all have incredible stories to tell. Don't forget to
Speaker 3: get in touch at Ordinarily Underscore Speaking on Insta and
Speaker 3: at Narrowly Underscore Meadows on Twitter. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 2: Thames from inadad come Back the Fire