IPL: Rashid Khan 2.0 wants to focus on his workload, fewer variations

Rashid Khan may be just 27, but it seems that the leg-spin wizard has been around for ages. This is his 10^th year in IPL (yes, that’s right) and if his Player of the Match performance against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday is any indication, then the ICC T20 Player of the Decade may have begun to hit the rhythm which made him such a difficult customer to pick in a batter-dominated format as this.

The figures of 4-0-17-3, where the scalps included two good players of spin in Nitish Rana and Axar Patel, seemed a throwback to his days with Sunrisers Hyderabad when the rival batters would be just content to play out his quota of overs. However, a back injury in 2023 put the skids on his career graph and suddenly, he did not look the same bowler in IPL for past two seasons.

The Afghan journeyman, a much sought performer in franchise leagues the world over, looked predictable in IPL 2024 and the leggie bagged just 10 wickets in 12 games at an average of 36.70 as his economy-rate spiked from 7.08 to 8.40. Last year was even worse as those numbers plummeted further – only nine wickets in 15 innings, average of 57.11, and an economy of 9.34.

The talk was whether the Rashid Khan magic was over and this is where Rashid begged to differ after Gujarat Titans prevailed in one of the most thrilling matches of the season so far. ‘’Bahut kharab season tha (it was a very poor season) but then, it doesn’t mean that you have been exposed. After last year’s IPL, I gave myself a few months’ break and then had a good Hundred in the UK. My focus was on improving my fitness so that I could bowl in full rhythm,’’ he said.

The tryst with injury, as Rashid admits, was quite costly as he decided to play through pain in the 2023 ODI World Cup in India – delaying his back surgery. ‘’After that World Cup, I couldn’t even walk properly and when I started bowling again, I became extra careful about not hurting my back and was missing my rhythm,’’ remarked Rashid.

Unlike in the initial years of his career when Rashid was known to developing a secret weapon every now and then, the Afghan captain said he wanted to sharpen on his existing skillsets while the workload issue will see him in fewer red ball engagements. Probed about whether he was contemplating any additions to his armoury, Rashid said: ‘’Fingers are not machines that they can come up with a new variety every day. As a bowler you can’t add so many variations and then end up confused in the middle. You need to have a few variations, and good ones and you need to have good control over it.

‘’For me, more important is hitting the right areas consistently - whether I bowl leg-spin, wrong ‘un or a flipper. But hitting the right areas consistently – that’s the challenge for me. Every day I try to improve on that and get better [in that aspect]. There will be times when you get a flat wicket but what’s more important is that when you’re conceding runs on those wickets, you have to see your line and lengths... If I bowl badly, anybody can hit me.’’

 The one-off Test against India in June is likely to see Rashid in action but he made it very clear that going forward, it would not be a priority for him. ‘’I am not sure about playing red ball in future, may have one Test per year. The last Test I played against Zimbabwe, I ended up bowling 67 overs – which was too much. From now on, I have to be careful about not putting load on myself.

‘’However, I love bowling in ODIs along with the T20Is,’’ said Rashid. Afghanistan will be playing a one-off Test and three ODIs against India between 6 and 20 June – and the spin ace will certainly be a star attraction there in national colours.