Rashid Khan and Ali Khan are examples of how sport can foster friendships beyond geopolitical obstacles
Peter Della Penna in Lauderhill06-Aug-2017The advent of T20 franchise leagues has thrown up some peculiar sets of team-mates, who may have not played together a decade ago, in the pre-IPL era. A prime example being Ricky Ponting and Harbhajan Singh, who teamed up for Mumbai Indians in 2013, close to five years after being on opposite sides of the ‘Monkeygate’ drama.The animus in that episode was down to a heated cricket rivalry, not broader geopolitical implications. In that sense, the chances of two cricketers from Afghanistan and USA being good enough to not only make a franchise T20 side but play alongside each other in the same team may have seemed infinitesimal at the height of the US war in Afghanistan.But Guyana Amazon Warriors made that a reality earlier this year when they signed Afghanistan legspinner Rashid Khan. USA fast bowler Ali Khan, who hails from Dayton, Ohio, after migrating from Pakistan as a teenager, had already been part of the squad for a season. Now, he is team-mates with Rashid, as is USA captain Steven Taylor.”I’m from Pakistan originally and Afghanistan is right next to Pakistan, so the cultures are pretty much the same, the language is the same,” Ali says. “[Rashid] He understands my language and talks to me in my language and that helps us get together.”Rashid has arrived as one of the most high-profile overseas players for the 2017 season, but Ali, who played just one game last season, doesn’t command the same recognition yet. Rashid, however, likes what he sees in Ali, who took a four-for in a trial game.”He has bowled well in the warm-up matches, as well as in the net sessions,” Rashid says. “He has been good. Let’s hope he gets a chance to deliver. I believe in him and he’s really talented. If he gets chances in the XI, he will deliver.”I have seen two boys from USA: Taylor and skipper Ali Khan. They are really talented and they are really good. They were in Division Three. Cricket is improving day by day here. Hopefully in the coming years, USA will be a much better side and they will play some good cricket.”Despite being thousands of miles away from Kabul, Rashid had a handful of supporters in Lauderhill on Saturday. Noorul Bari, a 24-year-old who moved from Kandahar to Miami three months ago, took a day off from work on Saturday from his job as a cashier at a retail outlet to watch Rashid and Mohammad Nabi in action. He was pleasantly surprised to find the American Taylor in the starting line-up alongside Rashid.The local Afghanistan community has embraced the CPL in America•Peter Della Penna”In Afghanistan, most of the time we do not mix politics with sports,” Bari says. “Even though our players like Nabi were playing with Pakistan players in PSL and we have tensions with Pakistan, when it comes to sports, we keep it away from politics and bad things. I don’t think Afghans have any problem with USA because USA have supported Afghanistan to grow from ashes to prosperity.”They supported us to have democracy and [hold] democratic elections. They built our infrastructure and helped us a lot. They work in Afghanistan to rebuild our country and establish security forces. So we don’t have problems with USA and when it comes to cricket and sports, we love cricket.”Bari endured a two-hour bus ride from Miami to make it to the Central Broward Regional Park and took his position along the rail on the North Mound, both cheeks painted with the Afghan tricolour while holding a small sign for Nabi and Rashid. He’s never seen the national team play, but has attended several matches last year for the domestic Shpageeza T20 competition. He is excited to now see Rashid and Nabi playing in T20 competitions overseas.The big hearts of Afghan fans have regularly swelled in their rise to Test status as they rally behind their “peace ambassadors” as one fan in London described them in the Afghanistan v MCC match at Lord’s last month. That ambassadorship has continued in America as fans like Bari looked on to see Americans and Afghans come together with the Amazon Warriors.”That’s the great advantage of playing in the leagues that you get to play with all players throughout the world and meet different cultures,” Ali says. “Rashid is a great guy and a very good addition to our squad plus a very good guy off the field. We hang out pretty much, go out to eat and have fun. This is his first time in USA so I’m just going to try to take him out sometime when we have free time and show him around.”