Sushma Swaraj, Afghan President Respond To Fans Seeking Indian Citizenship For Rashid Khan

Borders and religious differences may divide us, but there is one thing that brings us closer than ever – the love for cricket. And the love only doubles up and the fever is heightened during the Indian Premier League aka IPL.

IPL 2018 has been quite interesting with surprises at every turn. As the season draws to an end on 27th May, fans will witness the two finalist team – Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad – go head to head on the field.

Who will WIN #IPL2018 FINAL ??

Rt – Chennai Super Kings
Fav – SunRisers Hyderabad

#IPLFinal #CSKvSRH #IPL pic.twitter.com/l8w21oA8Xu

— Virat Kohli™ (@Virat_FC) May 26, 2018

But the journey to the finals for both the teams wasn’t an easy one. While CSK has been the favourite throughout the season, SRH proved themselves time and again. Especially in the qualifier against Kolkata Knight Riders.

It was a brilliant win for the team and Rashid Khan, the Afghan player outshone everyone else on the field. He delivered a stellar performance with both, the bat and the ball.

What a great match last night.. feel really sad for @KKRiders but hats off to @rashidkhan_19 who slammed 34 in 10, bowled 4 overs for 19, took 3 crucial wickets, 2 catches & effected a run out.. a performance deserving of a victory.
And now for a cracking final. ??

— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) May 26, 2018

The 19-year-old teenage sensation scored 34 runs off of 10 balls and our God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, praised him too. Tendulkar deemed him to be the ‘best T20 spinner’

Always felt @rashidkhan_19 was a good spinner but now I wouldn’t hesitate in saying he is the best spinner in the world in this format. Mind you, he’s got some batting skills as well. Great guy.

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) May 25, 2018

Fans of cricket went into a frenzy after watching this spectacle. Indian fans stormed the internet with requests to grant Rashid Khan Indian citizenship so he can play for Team India.

1. That would be something epic altogether.

India should give citizenship to Rashid Khan. Serious. Best case scenario for 2019 World Cup. #SRHvRCB

— Gabbbar (@GabbbarSingh) May 7, 2018

2. Even Harsha Bhigle had only praises for him.

Is there any way, Rashid Khan can be given Indian citizenship? We need him in our XI

— Anish Chowdhary (@anish2k11) May 25, 2018

3. It won’t be difficult to get signatures for this petition.

Let's all sign a petition for getting Rashid Khan Indian citizenship.#SRHvCSK

— Arpit Singh Badonia (@AB_arpit) May 22, 2018

Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs, who is generally quite active on Twitter joined in the frenzy too. As always, she had a witty response to all these fans seeking Indian citizenship for Rashid Khan.

Here’s a screenshot of the tweet which has now been deleted.

Wait a minute, don’t get too excited because there’s more to this craziness going around.

Soon after Swaraj’s tweet, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani also chimed in for the conversation. In his tweet, President Ghani said he will not allow Rashid Khan to go anywhere.

Afghans take absolute pride in our hero, Rashid Khan. I am also thankful to our Indian friends for giving our players a platform to show their skills. Rashid reminds us whats best about Afg. He remains an asset to the cricketing world. No we are not giving him away. @narendramodi

— Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) May 25, 2018

“No, we are not giving him away. @narendramodi”

Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings will play the finals on Sunday and after this Twitter banter, it is going to be one helluva match to watch.

Cover Image Source