In the seasons that followed, Khan performed better, taking 55 wickets in 2005 before recording 34 the season after, despite missing almost half of it through injury. In December 2006, Khan was awarded British citizenship, which made him eligible to be selected for England. It only took one month for the English selectors to recognise him, when they named him as part of a 14-man England 'A' squad to tour Bangladesh. Subsequently, he was named in the 30-man World Cup squad, although he was not selected in the final squad when it is halved to 15.