Rashid Khan has been bamboozling batsmen in the Vivo IPL-11. He’s gird up his loins for another run in with the Chennai Super Kings, which boasts of a 3-0 record this season; in the immediate past contest against CSK at the Wankhede, he deceived its captain M.S. Dhoni, but the yellow brigade’s Faf du Plessis had the last laugh.
It’s hard to believe that a 19-year-old can possess such a colossal means to tease, taunt and trick the batsmen in the air and off the pitch in the 24 balls he is allowed to send in a form of the game where the batsmen have the license to thrash the bowlers from the word go. The leg-spin-googly bowler has taken 47 wickets in 29 T20 matches for Afghanistan at a strike rate of 14.04. The numbers are truly extraordinary. He is fourth in the all-time Twenty20 international leg-spin bowling honours behind Shahid Afridi (97 from 98 matches), Imran Tahir (57 from 36) and Samuel Badree (54 from 48).
While the cricketing fraternity would be keen to look forward to Rashid Khan’s performance in Afghanistan’s inaugural Test against India in Bangalore from June 14 to 18, the young leg- spinner has already warmed the cockles of many a heart with his enthralling bowling for Sunrisers Hyderabad in this year’s IPL, the final of which will be played at the Wankhede Stadium here on Sunday.
Master of his art
On Friday he scuttled Kolkata Knight Riders’ chances of advancing to the title match with a spellbinding spell, effecting brutal breaks; Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa and Andre Russell fell to him and the Sunrisers stormed into the final.
Khan credits success in batting and bowling to “kismet” (fate or destiny) and that fielding is in his own hands, but the cricketing world has already been witness to his mastery over the art that has reflected his skill-sets in his repertoire and the remarkable ability to land the ball with great accuracy.
With a three for 19 effort (against KKR) for an overall tally of 21 wickets at an average of 20.67 and a strike rate of 18.29, the Sunrisers’ star has jumped to the second position Australian Andrew Tye, the holder of the Purple Cap with 24 wickets. It’s amazing that even with such a wonderful display, he went without a scalp in four of the 16 matches he has played; two of them in the league matches against KKR. His figures in both matches played at the Eden Gardens and Uppal were 4-0-31-0! His captain Kane Williamson has used him fully in the league; he has bowled 64 overs and has bowled only three wides and a not a single no ball! His batting has been really a bonus for the team.
The architect of the googly, (BJT) Bosanquet, once wrote that “The whole art of bowling is to make the batsman think that the ball is going to be of one kind when it is really of quite a different nature.” The googly was described as a type of bowling that called the big bluff on English and Australian batsmen. The likes of Shane Warne, Anil Kumble and Shahid Afridi dominated the scene for a decade and more and perhaps the time is upon young Rashid Khan to sustain a difficult art and take the centre stage in the years to come.
