WEBVTT - Rashid Khan - Ordineroli Speaking 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:08.400 Or not speaking. I play all around the world, everywhere, 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:12.320 each in every country, but my hote always remained in 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.440 Afghanistan and with the people of Afghanistan. 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:21.840 Tax on time. 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:31.360 Hello and welcome to this episode of Ordinarily Speaking. We've 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:35.000 all seen the smile of Rashid Khan, the joy he 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:38.400 brings to the cricketing world, and the unbelievable skill that 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:42.479 has produced well over four hundred t twenty wickets in 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:46.640 just over three hundred games. He is a superstar of 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:50.680 the sport, with millions of followers on social media. But 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.240 this is a story about the man, not the star. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:59.120 Rashid's parents were his world. The memory of them continues 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.840 to inspire him every day. When Rushid's dad died in 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.360 December twenty eighteen, his mother urged him to play on 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:10.679 through the Greek Only eighteen months later, Rushid watched his 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:14.280 mum pass away in front of his eyes. She had 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.360 COVID and her death came suddenly. In this episode of 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:22.440 Ordinarily Speaking, he shares that incredibly personal story for the 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:26.480 very first time. The conversation unfolds in the knowledge of 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:31.280 Afghanistan's current plight, So the dreams and aspirations that Rushid 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:36.600 holds for his country are met with both hope and heartache. Ultimately, 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.000 he is a son who desperately misses his parents, and 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:42.560 a brother and uncle who wants to take care of 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.000 his family and keep him safe. I hope you enjoy 0:01:46.080 --> 0:02:05.840 getting to know Rashid as much as I did. Oh, Rashie, 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:08.560 thank you so much for graining to do this with me. 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.680 I'm really looking forward to getting a better insight into 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.640 your life and what it's like being you. Before we 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.519 get stuck into the nitty gritty, I wanted to start 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:22.280 by asking you. The Strikers boys tell me that you 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.519 take them out for dinners and shout them dinners constantly. 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:29.720 What's the most generous thing you've done? And I hear 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:33.120 it's usually Afghan restaurants as well, which is pretty cool. 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:36.880 I think in the first couple of three years, we 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:41.280 do had those kind of little bit parties and I 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:43.680 used to get all the team, you know, to the 0:02:43.720 --> 0:02:46.240 restaurants and it's all about, like, you know, we just 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:49.280 gather and as a team and we enjoy we have 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.359 that kind of time. You know, we'll get us together 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:54.640 as a team and I love to do that, you know, 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.720 I always do that and since the last two years, 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:59.680 you haven't done any because of the COVID and stuff. 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.800 You can't go outside in the restaurant. But yeah, that 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.960 is something which makes me happy. You know, it's not 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:09.040 just about cricket. I go everywhere, you know, I just 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.040 want to make families. I just want to make friends, 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:15.040 and I just want to be remembered as a good person, 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.120 not as a good cricketer. You know, that is something 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.760 which I mainly focus on. I'm lucky I have such 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.120 kind of friends and strikers which you know, which they've 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.400 given me so much love and respect and and we 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.119 do have those parties. I miss that. Hopefully everything get 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:32.040 back to normal and we keep keep it feeding that you. 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:35.640 And me both. The fact that you pick Afghan restaurants, 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:39.160 is it important for you to allow your teammates into 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.120 a little bit of your culture and your love of Afghanistan? 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:44.600 Definitely, you know, they all we always talk about the 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:47.880 Afghan food and in the team, whenever they ask me 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:49.640 what you had for lunch or for dinner, I said 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:54.520 Afghan food and then they're like, oh why not. Sometimes 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:56.600 we go with you and we have the food. So 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.000 lucky that we have your restaurants in Adelaide as well Avegne. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:01.760 That's going to be it's easy for me to get 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.680 the food from and yeah, absolutely, you know, we just 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:08.040 need to have that kind of culture sharing to understand 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.720 each other culture and each other. So it's so important, 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:12.960 you know, to know each other culture. 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.599 Ye give us an insight into your upbringing. What was 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:18.280 it like when you were a little kid. 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.479 Yeah, I had a bit quite childhood because I was 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:25.719 away from my older brothers. I was in the village 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.440 with my mom and dad and my brothers. They were 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:32.120 in Pakistan, so they were refuge there and my parents 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:37.159 were in Afghanistan, so very quiet in Shy. I wasn't 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:39.839 quite interested to go to school. You know. I was 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:44.440 someone who always wanted to be home and never entrusted 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:48.880 in studies and always wanted to be around the parents, 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:50.800 you know, don't want to leave the home. And then 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.720 they shift me back to Pakistan to study there as 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.800 a refugee. Yeah. Then my nephews were so much ahead 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:58.680 of me in the school and I was just starting 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:00.799 from the beginning. I don't want to study in this class. 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:02.760 I want to go ahead and sit with them, and 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:05.960 and it wasn't allowed to be the way because they 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.840 said you have to study this and then. So then 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:13.200 I got a few double promotions. Luckily I knew the 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.320 head and the head of that school, and he said, okay, 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:17.640 it's fine, I can do that for you as long 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.920 as you study hard and you make sure you adjust 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.000 yourself in those classes. So to be honest, yeah, then 0:05:23.040 --> 0:05:26.320 I started studying hard and I had English classes then. 0:05:26.400 --> 0:05:29.760 Then since I was into the schools, I think I 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:32.560 was someone who loved the school the most and wanted 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:34.840 to become a doctor. And that's was my dream, and 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:37.880 that was my dream of my family, you know, they 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.160 all had that expectation for me that I will be 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.200 a doctor in future. I wasn't quite interested in the cricket. 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.680 Brothers used to play a lot of cricket, but I 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.360 was just being there with them as a fielder. So 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.200 I was just feeling for them, not bowling, not bantting, nothing. 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:57.240 So yeah, yeah that's the little duty. So but yeah, 0:05:57.520 --> 0:05:59.800 I had those skills in talent and me in that time, 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.360 brothers were like, you're pretty good, Like even in the fielding. 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:04.919 You were like, you have so so much energy and 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.560 you love this game. But I never like played outside, 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:13.560 mostly at home mostly at home because my family were 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:15.760 not allowing me to go outside and play with the 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:19.839 friends in the streets in the because it wasn't safe 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.880 at that time and they were like, maybe you know, 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:25.599 you might fight with someone, they might fight with you. 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.000 Situation wasn't as good. We didn't have that kind of facilities. 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:32.640 We didn't have that kind of future role models at 0:06:32.640 --> 0:06:36.000 the moment like youngsters have. We didn't hide in the future, 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:37.960 and that's why they were not allowing me to go 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.680 and play cricket. So luckily later on I got that opportunity. 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:46.520 So you referenced your nephews there being around the same 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:50.479 age as you, So you had eleven there's eleven of you, right, 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:54.440 brothers and sisters and you and then how many needs? 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:56.480 So hang on, first of all, what's the age gap 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:58.320 between your siblings? Do you know? 0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:01.920 Yeah, my dad had two wives, so when my first 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:05.599 mom she passed away, then my mom, so he married. 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:09.520 So from that he has four kids, two daughters and 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:12.200 two sons. So they are like in the age of 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:16.160 sixty sixty five, you know, my brothers. So from there, 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:20.120 my nephews are like my eldest nephew is like forty 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:24.360 four forty five, so I'm like even half of his age. 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:27.600 And I have nephews, which they have kids. You know, 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:28.720 they're in my age. 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.640 Like, do you still site to them, I'm your uncle now. 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:35.920 You definitely, you know, they are like older than me. 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:38.880 Still they do restract me a lot in there. But 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:44.000 I have lots of nephews to be honest, and nieces 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:47.880 which which is pretty hard for me to count them. 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:51.840 If I count them, maybe it gets two hundred. Really, yeah, seriously, 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:54.400 if I count, it's around hundred. Yeah. 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:56.760 So I have five nieces and nephews. I buy them 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:58.680 all birthday presents and Christmas presents. 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.080 I'm so lucky. You just five or twenty for me. 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:05.440 It's so much. You know, it's not about the birthday, 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.360 you know. Sometimes they need something else as well. Like 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.360 my nephews, whenever they want something, they don't tell their dad, 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.160 they don't tell anybody else. They just message me and like, 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.000 look this is what I need and I just arrange 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.200 it from here for things for them. So yeah, it's 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:25.040 pretty hard. Whenever it's their birthday, I try my best 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:27.480 to hire myself and not to pick their car, not 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:31.320 to reply him. And then after two three days, I said, oh, 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:35.600 I forgot. I was busy. Yeah, it's pretty hard to 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:38.480 arrange the things for them, like, you know, so many 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:42.640 gifts and stuff. Luckily I'm not going home, otherwise would 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:45.120 have been troubled. Whenever I go back home, I have 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.240 all the stuff with me. I come back empty. I 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:50.480 just have one empty bag and that's it. The rest 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.360 of the things, everyone takes it from me. My shirts, 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:57.480 my jeans, everything, my shoes, everything, nothing. Then I come 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:00.760 back to Dubai and I buy everything new. And that's 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:04.120 happened like a few times. Because they all have my brother, 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.559 they have the same size and everything same and they 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.080 just take it from me. And I said, okay, I 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:12.560 can't say anything. I go with the like seventy eighty 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:15.000 kg and I come back like ten kg five kg. 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:21.240 Do you take it upon yourself to look after your family, 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:22.440 the extended family? 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:24.600 Yeah, yeah I do. I do love I love it. 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.160 You know, we're all joined family. I have seven brothers 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.880 and four sisters, so we all live in like in 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:33.319 the same house. We love that. I have a very 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:37.760 big house which has which has around twenty rooms, very big. Yeah. 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:39.440 And did you get that fall them? 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:42.960 Yeah, I got one new. But we had that old 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.800 one before, like before I get into cricket, so we 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:47.880 had that big house. So now I got one new 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.360 home which is Encarble. Hopefully one day we shift to 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:56.120 that home as well. So yeah, we we love being together. 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:58.880 They all wash the cricket together and when I'm playing, 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.120 even if it's late as well. In Afghanistan, they still 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.679 watch cricket. They don't sleep and they keep sending me 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.400 all the snaps and videos and stuff, so just to 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:12.080 make sure you're watching you and you're doing well. 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:15.679 So yeah, that must have meant a lot to you 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.920 to be able to provide them with a family home 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.040 through you know, your earnings from cricket. That must be special. 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:25.680 It is, it is, it's super special. You know. I 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:29.839 think hours from a kind of family which financially we 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:33.360 are not as much good and we were struggling those days, 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:37.680 you know, you know, like in Afghanistan having big families 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:40.520 and if you're financially not well as well, then you 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:44.079 might be struggling a lot. So I think luckily my 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:47.480 brothers they were pretty good and they studied at that time. 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:51.199 They didn't let theirselves down and they work hard and 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:55.760 you know, they got us in a stage that we 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:58.200 could be able to get whatever you want, you know, 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.319 as a younger brother, or whenever you want anything, especially 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:05.440 whenever I was in a kind of MOVI where I 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:09.640 wanted to buy something for the cricket stuff things I needed, 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:13.840 bad gloves, baths, you know, I think they were providing 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.200 me all those things and they were buying for me, 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:18.640 and that was something I kind of support I got 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:21.000 from them that time, you know, and that was something 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.680 which reached me to this stage. You know, they never 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:27.760 let me down that no, we can't buy this, that 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.040 you know, this supported me. They given me that old 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.040 love and support which I needed. It was pretty hard 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:35.560 from the moment dad to get that support because they 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:37.920 were expecting me to obey a doctor, not a cricketer. 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:40.959 But later on when they found out I'm pretty good 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.240 in cricket and I can go ahead in this, then 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:46.000 they were like mostly even my mom she became a 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:48.079 coach for me, like when she was watching and then 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:50.880 she was having a call me three after the game 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:52.679 and she was telling me this is what you did 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.000 growing and this is what and I was like super 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:58.200 surprised because she never understand cricket. She never watched cricket, 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.360 and since I was involved in the cricket, she was 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:02.240 interested in it. 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:03.800 What was the advice? 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:06.280 I knew it like this is something I did wrong 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:08.440 and she was just like reminding it to me. And 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.959 I knew it that Yeah, if I bold rang, especially 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:14.480 when I was playing against Western Indies anytime, she was 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.520 telling me just be careful. They are like so powerful 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:18.280 and so big. 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:24.040 Oh moms, we love moms. Yeah, you mentioned earlier things 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:28.120 weren't safe. What was it like in Afghanistan? And at 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:29.280 the time, the. 0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:33.760 Thing was that time education I think, you know, we 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:37.840 didn't have that people who were mainly focusing on education. 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:41.679 And when there is no education, you know, there are 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:47.320 some people in that community which uneducated and they can 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:49.600 they can harm you, they can hurt you anytime. You know, 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:53.400 they don't have that kind of respect for each other. 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:57.880 And the safety wasn't there. You know, so many accidents 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:00.719 happened those days. They're in the creek, you know, they 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:04.240 fight and even they they used the guns in that time, 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:07.640 just during the games, and so that was something so scary, 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:10.840 you know, hearing those things those days, and that's why 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:13.040 my family was not letting me to go and to 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:16.720 play outside. They were like, maybe anything can happen. So 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.400 those were the accidents happened those days. That's why it 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.280 was super unsafe for me to go and play outside 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:26.720 with the people who I don't know, anything can happen, 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:29.360 And that's why they were like, you can play twenty 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:31.480 four hours at home. We don't have any issue with that, 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:34.800 but we're not letting you to go outside and play. 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:36.439 You know, we don't know what's going to happen. And 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:40.200 as I said, so many accidents that didn't allow us 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:43.120 to play freely. We didn't have any academies, we didn't 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.920 have any professional grounds. It was just like a local 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:49.600 places we were playing. So that's why, you know, it 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:53.079 wasn't safe for me to play outside and enjoy my cricket. 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.040 Did you feel the war around you? Did you know 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:56.760 it was there? 0:13:57.480 --> 0:14:00.760 Ah, To be honest, it was earlier. But the thing 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:04.360 was it become normal for us. We got used to 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.560 with that situation and in that environment, hearing about someone 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:12.199 is skilled, someone dies some on this it was become usual. 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:15.160 You know, it's just a normal routine for everyone. That 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:20.880 was something which did allow me that, yes, I'm going 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:23.960 to do something for my country because I have seen 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:27.800 all those times, tough times and people struggling. I have 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:31.520 seen the young generation which way they're going at the moment. 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:34.600 They are totally different. They all have that education in 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:37.560 the mind, sports in the mind, which I love to see. 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:42.000 Those days, no education, no cricket, no sports, nothing, and 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:46.840 this was the only thing happening. Like everyone's mind was 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:51.320 in negative mind it. They didn't have those positive mindset 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.080 that what I'm going to do for my country in future. 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:56.440 You know, I'm just not letting myself to be in 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:59.040 the same spot as other people. I have to be 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.400 someone who does thing in the future just to make 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.520 sure inspire someone and and do something for the young 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:09.360 young kids, just to make sure their life is changed. 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.360 And that's the only way we can change the country. 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:14.720 With the education and with the sports. As long as 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:16.920 we have these two at the top, I think we 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.320 can compete any any country in the in the world. 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:21.440 And I think that that the kind of belief I 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:26.680 had in the But life was was very hard those days, 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:30.440 you know, hearing about those accidents, the blast and things 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.800 like that, it was scary. But yeah, a couple of 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:38.080 times it happened, and I heard the voices of the blast. 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:40.520 You know, when I was in in Carbule, I think 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:44.400 we were an under nineteen camp and it was one 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:48.560 thirty am and a blast happened. And to be honest, 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:53.360 it was that loudie that I thought it just happened 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.640 inside the cricket board. And we were three guys in 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:01.080 the one room, so it was all like you know, 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.720 blurry in the room. The dust was there in the room, 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:06.360 and we couldn't like see each other, you know, like 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:12.240 what happened? So sertainly, like five ten minutes. After five 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:16.360 ten minutes, there was some noises outside, so many noises outside, 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.640 and I thought like they might have blasted in the 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:22.640 cricket board. They might come now and just like shoot us. 0:16:22.640 --> 0:16:25.440 You know, That's that's the kind of thing I had 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:27.240 in the mind, the kind of movie I had in 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:30.920 the mind. So I just closed the door. I closed 0:16:30.920 --> 0:16:33.760 the door like this, and I told my teammates just 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:37.080 to like, let's see what happens. So after two three minutes, 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:41.360 one of the trainers he was calling everyone that it's 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.120 not here. It's like two three kilometers away from here, 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:47.480 and the blasts happened. It's not here, just come out. 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:50.600 So that night we all went outside. We were sitting 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:52.560 in the middle of the ground on the wicket and 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:56.360 was it happened around one thirty am, and we were 0:16:56.360 --> 0:16:58.680 in the ground till eight am, so we didn't sleep, like, 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:02.040 we didn't come back to the rooms. So yeah, I 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:04.520 heard the same I had the same accident again as 0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:06.200 well when I was in hundred nineteen, so a couple 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:09.840 of times it happened. So yeah, those things were very 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.720 unusual for us at the moment at the start, but 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:14.439 we just got used to be that, you know, and 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:16.720 then just become a normal routine. 0:17:17.440 --> 0:17:20.320 You say some of that with like a right smile 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:23.720 on your face. What's going through your mind when you 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:27.880 when you think about those times, because it sounds terrifying. 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:30.919 It is, you know it is. But the thing is, 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:33.800 like the only answer for that is just to keep 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:37.520 smiling or just to be positive. I don't want to, like, 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.720 you know, just to be someone give a different image 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:43.440 to the country, you know. I just want, like, even 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:45.760 in the field, you know, if I'm always trying my 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:49.120 best to be someone who smiles or someone who bring 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:51.520 lots of energy into the game, just to make sure 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:53.600 like make my country proud, you know, just to make 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:56.640 sure like people back home. Everyone is watching the game. 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.320 Doesn't matter whatever I play, either I play in Australia, 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.440 in India, in England, whatever I play, they don't miss 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:04.920 my games. They watch each and every game. And I think, 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:08.439 if I don't do something special in the field, you know, 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.800 it means I'm not making him rout and I'm not 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.400 doing something for my country, even a single wicket. They 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:18.119 enjoy a lot. They have so much celebration back home, 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:20.960 and we're just trying our best, you know, to bring 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:25.080 lots of positive things to the country, just to make 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:28.480 sure that people forget what happened in the past, just 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:31.000 to give a different image. You know, what are the 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:34.760 real people of Afghanistan. You know, I'm here, I'm representing 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:37.480 my country and I have to be someone who bring 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:40.560 the positive image of my country and positive image of 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.800 the youngster. What are their hopes in what are their 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.440 targets in future and what they want to be in future. 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:49.200 So yeah, that's something which I'm trying my best and 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:52.080 I hope, I hope and I have that believe in future. 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.560 You know, the sports, in our involvement in this, in 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.800 this game, I think this can bring so much positive 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:02.040 to my country. And one day I think will be 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:07.080 a country will with high educated people and a country 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:11.320 who people love to visit and they love to meet 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:12.720 the people of the Afghanistan. 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:15.679 I can promise you that when I think of you, 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:17.879 the first thing I think about is your smile. The 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:20.760 second thing I think about is how well you actually 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:24.640 play the game, so your smile is synonymous with not 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:27.919 just Afghanistan cricket, but with cricket in the world. 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:34.520 Was it scary, definitely it was. It was so scary. 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:41.040 You know when something's happening and you're watching those things 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:44.760 on TV while you're at home, and suddenly those things 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.520 happened in real life with you and you just remind 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:51.480 those things, those memories, those things and those footage images 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.679 comes out in front of your eyes. I think it 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:59.320 is scary. It is so scary, but we've got used 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.720 to with it, as I say, like, it becomes just 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:06.240 a normal bit for us. And we feel so sorry 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:09.200 being away from the country. Sometimes you hear about those 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:13.919 things again and again, but we as a players, we 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:16.200 can't do anything about that. You know, we're just trying 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:18.480 our best to do something special just to make sure 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:21.040 they forget what happened. Yesterday, what happened the other day, 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:26.639 and we bring something positive today, And yeah, it is scary, definitely, 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:29.880 even if you think about it, it's scary. And imagine 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:31.760 if it happens in front of your eyes and you 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.399 hurt the things. I think it's it's it's something. The 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:38.800 sound of the blast, it never goes away from your mind. 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:42.840 It's always there because that was a different sound and 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:46.320 I never ever heard that kind of sound in my life. 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:49.560 Yeah, can you still hear it now when you think 0:20:49.600 --> 0:20:50.640 when you're talking about it? 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:54.240 Definitely I have those. You know, some accidents never go 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:57.280 away from your mind. Some accident never go whenever, unlike 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:00.600 you know, something happens back home, I do think about 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:03.679 it will be the same voice as I heard. It 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:06.919 will be the same as we just hope, you know, 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:11.120 things get better and better and we don't see those 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:15.840 things in future and just get things back to normal. 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:19.280 Do you worry about your family back in Afghanistan? 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:24.159 Sometimes you do worry about you know, there's definitely you 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:27.160 know your family back home and you do worry about them, 0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:31.879 like you know, anytime, anything can happen. But at the 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:36.080 same time, you can't do anything as well. We have 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:39.440 that kind of strong mind. You know, if it happens 0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:42.800 as well, if it happens we I think everyone back 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:46.040 home they mentally ready and they're mentally very strong as well. 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:49.120 That is something which doesn't allow me to go away 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:52.159 from my country, you know that. To be honest, I 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:55.640 can't leave my country. Like I know it's not as 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:58.760 safe for me, but still I can't. Like whenever I go, 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:01.840 I'm going back home. Everyone is telling me, try to 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:05.320 be careful, don't go, but I'm like, I can't leave. 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:08.040 You know how you can live without your country, Like 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:11.800