Afghanistan lost one match in regulation at the T20 World Cup, and Rashid Khan learned of his sacking from a board announcement
Rashid Khan says the Afghanistan Cricket Board never told him he was losing the T20I captaincy. Six months later, he still has not been given a reason.
Sep 21, 2026
Six months on, Rashid Khan still cannot tell you why he stopped being Afghanistan’s T20I captain. He found out the same way everyone else did.
“Even I don’t know what exactly happened at that time,” he told ESPNcricinfo. “I came to know [about the captaincy change] when the board announced it.”
That is a blunt thing for a player of his standing to say about the board he has represented since he was 17. Rashid is the most recognisable cricketer Afghanistan has produced, the reason a generation of Indian fans can name an Afghan leg-spinner before they can name an Afghan batter. He was not given the courtesy of a phone call.
The announcement came on 5 March
The Afghanistan Cricket Board named Ibrahim Zadran as T20I captain on 5 March 2026, promoting the opener from the vice-captaincy. The board pointed to a long-term plan and the arrival of a new head coach. It did not go into detail.
Zadran’s first job was a three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka in Sharjah, starting on 13 March. Rashid has gone on playing throughout, including the three T20Is in Delhi this month, and at no stage has the ACB spelled out what he had done wrong.
He lost one match in regulation
The change followed Afghanistan’s group-stage exit at the T20 World Cup earlier in 2026, which is the part that does not quite add up. Afghanistan played four matches in Group D. They won two, tied one and lost one.
The defeat came in the opening game in Chennai on 8 February, New Zealand chasing 183 with 13 balls to spare after Tim Seifert made 65 from 42. Three days later in Ahmedabad they tied with South Africa, both sides finishing on 187, and went out by four runs in a second Super Over after Rahmanullah Gurbaz had hit three sixes in it. Then they chased 161 against the UAE at the Arun Jaitley Stadium with four balls in hand, and signed off in Chennai by putting 200 for 4 on the board and bowling Canada out for 118 for 8.
So the campaign that cost Rashid the job contained one defeat in normal time. Group stages are settled on fine margins and the ACB does not have to like the way this one broke, but a tied Super Over is a thin piece of ground to sack a captain on.
What the record actually says
Rashid captained Afghanistan in 48 T20Is and won 26 of them. Twenty-two were lost. That is a modest return read cold, and an excellent one for a side that had never reached the last four of a global event before he took them there.
The 2024 T20 World Cup is still the high-water mark. Afghanistan beat New Zealand, beat Australia, reached a semi-final and finished fourth out of twenty. South Africa ended it brutally, bowling them out for 56 and winning by nine wickets with 67 balls left, but no Afghanistan captain had got anywhere near that stage, and it happened with Rashid leading and bowling.
He was still setting records under the new captain. The UAE game in Delhi brought his 700th wicket in T20 cricket, the first time any bowler has got there.
Zadran has not had it easy either
The new captain has spent his first six months learning what the job costs. India swept the three T20Is at the Arun Jaitley Stadium between 13 and 17 September, finishing with a 127-run win in which Abhishek Sharma reached a hundred in 30 balls, the fastest T20I century by an Indian. Afghanistan were bowled out for 94.
Rashid turns up and bowls his four overs. He says the right things about being available. What he has stopped doing is pretending he understands the decision. The ACB may well have had its reasons. Six months later, the player at the centre of it is still waiting to hear them.