{"id":2712,"date":"2016-05-07T16:56:58","date_gmt":"2016-05-07T11:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=2712"},"modified":"2016-05-07T16:56:58","modified_gmt":"2016-05-07T11:26:58","slug":"rashid-khan-afghanistan-india-cricket-underdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712","title":{"rendered":"Rashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

T<\/span>he fourth <\/p>Harry Potter<\/em><\/a> novel, The Goblet of Fire<\/em>, opens with Harry and the Weasleys<\/a> attending the Quidditch World Cup final between favourites Ireland and underdogs Bulgaria. Asked to pick a winner, Harry<\/a> predicts that Ireland will win the game, but the tournament\u2019s breakout sensation, the mercurial Bulgarian prodigy Viktor Krum will catch the Snitch, making him the game\u2019s most valuable player. That\u2019s exactly what happens \u2013 the underdogs lose, but their teenage sensation wins over the heart of the audience, cementing his place among the sport\u2019s greats.\n\nToday, another clash of similar David vs Goliath proportions is taking place in Bangalore<\/a>, and a real world Viktor Krum is preparing to fell the giant before him. The 19-year-old Afghan leg spinner Rashid Khan, who ended this year\u2019s IPL<\/a> with the second-highest tally of wickets, is going to step onto the field with the hopes and aspirations of a war-torn nation riding on his shoulders.\n\nAfghanistan<\/a> will play their first ever international Test match against India today, a high water mark for the embattled nation that has nonetheless produced a cricket<\/a> team that has gone from strength to strength in the last 24 months. Most recently, they whitewashed Bangladesh<\/a> in a three-match T20 series last week, and once again, Rashid Khan was the man with the plan. With a steely focus that belied his teenage years, he defended nine runs in the last over of the last match of the series, ensuring his side won the tournament 3-0 and drawing praise from legends like Sachin<\/a> Tendulkar and Harsha Bhogle. In fact, Rashid has been on such a tear that during the IPL, fans on Twitter began asking for him to be granted Indian citizenship! Unlike most conversations on Twitter, this one had some logic to it. If Rashid were an Indian, he could play so much more international cricket than he gets to for Afghanistan \u2013 but that\u2019s just wishful thinking. Instead, Rashid continues to proudly represent his home country, and today he is going to try and bowl out the Indian batsmen<\/a> with mystifying googlies.\n\nIt\u2019s no secret that Afghanistan has seen some hard times as a nation in the last two decades, and this spirited ascendancy of their cricket team, fuelled by the brilliance of Rashid, is one of the few feel-good stories to come out of that troubled land. Making their Test debut against India, the highest ranked team in the world, is a moment of hard-won legitimacy.\n\nIn Quidditch, the Snitch is the most valuable of the five balls used in the game, and Viktor Krum catches it. For Rashid, the most prized scalps won\u2019t be available, as top batsmen Virat Kohli<\/a> and Rohit Sharma are being rested for the match. I hope that doesn\u2019t dampen his appetite for victims one bit. It is a joy to watch innate talent weave its magic, and when paired with an underdog story like Afghanistan\u2019s and Rashid\u2019s, the tug of fan support is nigh on irresistible. It\u2019s like when Harry Potter knew Viktor Krum\u2019s team might lose the match, but believed in his talent anyway, and Krum delivered in style.\n\nOver to you, Rashid Khan. You catch that Snitch today.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is a joy to watch innate talent weave its magic, and when that talent is paired with an underdog story like Afghanistan\u2019s and Rashid\u2019s, the tug of fan support cannot be denied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2713,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[394],"tags":[5493,874,449,5494,659,19,397,5495,5496,3485,1273,3911],"class_list":["post-2712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-afghanistan","tag-ajinkya-rahane","tag-cricket","tag-debut","tag-harry-potter","tag-india","tag-ipl","tag-nabi","tag-rashid-khan","tag-rohit-sharma","tag-t20","tag-test-match"],"yoast_head":"\nRashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It is a joy to watch innate talent weave its magic, and when that talent is paired with an underdog story like Afghanistan\u2019s and Rashid\u2019s, the tug of fan support cannot be denied.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is a joy to watch innate talent weave its magic, and when that talent is paired with an underdog story like Afghanistan\u2019s and Rashid\u2019s, the tug of fan support cannot be denied.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-07T11:26:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1528952830.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dushyant Shekhawat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Rashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"It is a joy to watch innate talent weave its magic, and when that talent is paired with an underdog story like Afghanistan\u2019s and Rashid\u2019s, the tug of fan support cannot be denied.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dushyant Shekhawat\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=2712#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=2712\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dushyant Shekhawat\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/933099a2338957592f7fff40263742db\"},\"headline\":\"Rashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-07T11:26:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=2712\"},\"wordCount\":549,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=2712#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1528952830.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Afghanistan\",\"Ajinkya Rahane\",\"cricket\",\"Debut\",\"harry potter\",\"India\",\"ipl\",\"Nabi\",\"Rashid Khan\",\"Rohit Sharma\",\"T20\",\"Test Match\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=2712\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=2712\",\"name\":\"Rashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=2712#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=2712#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1528952830.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-07T11:26:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/933099a2338957592f7fff40263742db\"},\"description\":\"It is a joy to watch innate talent weave its magic, and when that talent is paired with an underdog story like Afghanistan\u2019s and Rashid\u2019s, the tug of fan support cannot be denied.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=2712#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=2712\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=2712#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1528952830.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1528952830.jpg\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?p=2712#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/933099a2338957592f7fff40263742db\",\"name\":\"Dushyant Shekhawat\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1f954968c96ac296f8a855e9f7c24b2da221736e30aceb00a9cb1016fec0291f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1f954968c96ac296f8a855e9f7c24b2da221736e30aceb00a9cb1016fec0291f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1f954968c96ac296f8a855e9f7c24b2da221736e30aceb00a9cb1016fec0291f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dushyant Shekhawat\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=43\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog","description":"It is a joy to watch innate talent weave its magic, and when that talent is paired with an underdog story like Afghanistan\u2019s and Rashid\u2019s, the tug of fan support cannot be denied.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog","og_description":"It is a joy to watch innate talent weave its magic, and when that talent is paired with an underdog story like Afghanistan\u2019s and Rashid\u2019s, the tug of fan support cannot be denied.","og_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-05-07T11:26:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1528952830.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dushyant Shekhawat","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Rashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog","twitter_description":"It is a joy to watch innate talent weave its magic, and when that talent is paired with an underdog story like Afghanistan\u2019s and Rashid\u2019s, the tug of fan support cannot be denied.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dushyant Shekhawat","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712"},"author":{"name":"Dushyant Shekhawat","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#\/schema\/person\/933099a2338957592f7fff40263742db"},"headline":"Rashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog","datePublished":"2016-05-07T11:26:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712"},"wordCount":549,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1528952830.jpg","keywords":["Afghanistan","Ajinkya Rahane","cricket","Debut","harry potter","India","ipl","Nabi","Rashid Khan","Rohit Sharma","T20","Test Match"],"articleSection":["Sports"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712","name":"Rashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1528952830.jpg","datePublished":"2016-05-07T11:26:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#\/schema\/person\/933099a2338957592f7fff40263742db"},"description":"It is a joy to watch innate talent weave its magic, and when that talent is paired with an underdog story like Afghanistan\u2019s and Rashid\u2019s, the tug of fan support cannot be denied.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1528952830.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1528952830.jpg","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2712#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rashid Khan and the Irresistible Lure of the Underdog"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/#\/schema\/person\/933099a2338957592f7fff40263742db","name":"Dushyant Shekhawat","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f954968c96ac296f8a855e9f7c24b2da221736e30aceb00a9cb1016fec0291f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f954968c96ac296f8a855e9f7c24b2da221736e30aceb00a9cb1016fec0291f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f954968c96ac296f8a855e9f7c24b2da221736e30aceb00a9cb1016fec0291f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dushyant Shekhawat"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=43"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1528952830.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}