It might not be a classic "Slumdog Millionaire" story, but this 19-year-old son of a car wheel importer in Afghanistan has fought his way through the war-torn city of Nangarhar to become Afghanistan cricket's first million dollar baby on Saturday.
As Sunrisers Hyderabad used the Right to Match (RTM) card to retain Rashid Khan for a whopping Rs 9 crore ($1.41 million) at the IPL auctions held in Bengaluru, the right-arm leg-spinner left many of the more famous names in the trade behind to become the seventh most expensive player purchased on the first day of the auctions.
Khan proved to be a more expensive buy than two of India's first-choice shortest format spinners, right-arm leggie Yuzvendra Chahal and chinaman Kuldeep Yadav.
Khan's success story is not an overnight one, but one of persistent hard work and struggle over the last one year that has made him one of the most sought after cricketers in T20 leagues around the world.
After being purchased by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 4 crore in the previous auctions last year, Khan proved to be a tough nut to crack in the 2017 IPL season as many a quality batsmen failed to read Khan's googlies. The Afghan leggie bagged 17 wickets in 14 matches at an economy rate of 6.62 in his debut IPL season.
Not just the IPL, he has been the toast of international cricket too for his impressive economy rate of 5.91 in the 27 T20 Internationals for Afghanistan.
His performances have stood out so much that he was even picked in Australia's Big Bash League, and has picked up 17 wickets in the 10 matches so far for Adelaide Strikers this season.
Starting at his base price of Rs 2 crores, Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians went all out to grab this young talent on Saturday, with the former sealing the deal at Rs 9 crore. But as expected, Sunrisers Hyderabad smartly used their RTM option to retain Khan's services.
This auction proved to be a windfall for most of the leg-spinners as Amit Mishra (Rs 4 crore), Karn Sharma (Rs 5 crore) and Piyush Chawla (Rs 4.2 crore) were grabbed by Delhi Daredevils, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders, respectively.
Experienced South African leggie Imran Tahir also received a Rs 1 crore bid by Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Chennai outfit.
However, leg-spinners Ish Sodhi, Adam Zampa and Samuel Badree were not as lucky after being left unsold in the auction. But they still have a chance to be picked up on Sunday.
