Rashid Khan was born in 1998 in Nangarhar, Eastern Afghanistan. He hails from Jalalabad, and has ten siblings. When he was young, his family fled the Afghan war and lived in Pakistan for "a few years". They later returned to Afghanistan, resuming their normal life with Rashid continuing his schooling. Rashid grew up playing cricket with his brothers and idolised Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi, after whom he stylised his bowling action, and South African batsman AB de Villiers. In February 2017, he was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL) for ₹4 Crores. He was also amongst the two first ever Afghan players to be selected for the IPL. He made his IPL debut in the opening fixture of the 2017 tournament, taking two wickets, as the Sunrisers Hyderabad won the match by 35 runs. He finished the tournament as the sixth-highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets from 14 matches. On 5 May 2018, during the 2018 Indian Premier League, Khan played in his 100th Twenty20 match. He took two wickets, affected a run out, and was named the man of the match.[73][74] In March 2022, he played as the vice-captain for the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022. On 9 April 2023, during the 2023 Indian Premier League, he took a hat-trick against Kolkata Knight Riders with figures of 3 for 37, becoming the fourth player to take a hat-trick in IPL history.