Former Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj passed away at the age of 67 after suffering a cardiac arrest on Tuesday night. During her tenure as a minister, she was very much active on social media and was always offering help. But, she shares an interesting connection with Afghanistani spinner Rashid Khan.
During the 2018 season of IPL, Sunrisers Hyderabad faced the Kolkata Knight Riders in a much-awaited clash at the Eden Gardens in the second qualifier of the tournament. The match had a nail-biting finish and Rashid Khan delivered a stand-out performance. The 20-year-old cricketer scored 34 runs off 10 balls and also finished with impressive figures of three wickets for just 19 runs in his quota of four overs.
The Afghan all-rounder became the biggest topic of discussion on Twitter that day and there were demands for him to be given Indian citizenship. Then foreign minister Sushma Swaraj took to twitter and made a witty comment.
"I have seen all the tweets. Citizenship matters are dealt with by Ministry of Home affairs," her tweet read.
In response to that Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani stated that they were not going to let Rashid go and also appreciated India for giving the Afghani players a platform to perform and prove themselves.
"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 what's best about Afghanistan. He remains an asset to the cricketing world. No we are not giving him away," his tweet read.
This was not the first time that Swaraj spoke about Afghanistan's success in international cricket. Earlier in an interview with the PTI, she praised their efforts.
"The fact that Afghanistan attained the status of a Test-playing cricket nation is a testament to the indomitable spirit of the people of Afghanistan to not let the forces of death and destruction prevail," she told PTI.
