Star cricketer Rashid Khan has appealed to cricket bodies to give Afghanistan the chance to play more tournaments against leading cricket teams in order to improve their game.

To become a big player you have to play against the best, Rashid told the TMS does the IPL podcast on Tuesday.

When I came to the IPL at 17, I saw the players, their workouts and fitness, the net sessions and I realized how much work I needed to do to be much better and more consistent.

We have played against Australia twice in five years - in the two World Cups - and it’s the same with England and New Zealand.

Hopefully we get some games against them and the rest of the players get the same opportunity to get better.

Rashid also said that Afghanistan’s rise into cricket’s top tier took him by surprise but said how proud he was.

I feel so proud, coming from Afghanistan and being on this stage. It’s a dream for me, sometimes I think where I was five or six years ago and where I am now, it’s something very special for me, Rashid said.

When I was watching other leg-spinners a few years back, I would never dream that sometime in the future I will be someone else’s role model, he said.

Since being afforded full membership to the ICC and associated Test status, Afghanistan has played just four Test matches, against the West Indies, Ireland and Bangladesh.

Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand, the first four members of the Test cricket family, are yet to welcome Afghanistan into the fold in competition.