There are very few Afghan Cricketers who played for IPL franchises: Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who will represent the team Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022.
Rashid encodes a mystery factor in his bowling which makes him so unique in the sphere of wrist spinners. He debuted in the 10th edition of the Indian Premier League from the side of Sunrisers Hyderabad. He took 2 wickets in his very encounter of the season; later, he finished the tournament in the sixth position with 17 wickets in 14 matches.
Rashid was fabulous against every strong batting team; he kept his action so fast that the batsman couldn’t get the time to read the delivery. In his IPL career, he had picked up 93 wickets in 76 matches with a fabulous career economy of 6.33. Rashid Khan had always stood up for SRH when they were stuck in a difficult situations. Though he hasn’t achieved a Purple cap in any IPL seasons, his wicket-taking ability usually stays on the top.
So, here are his top 5 spells across all seasons of the IPL.
#1 3/19 SRH vs KKR in 2018
SRH and Rashid Khan had thumped Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2nd Qualifier match of IPL 2018 playoffs. Batting first, SRH put 174/7 in the quota of 20 overs, including the knocks of Wriddhiman Saha and Shikhar Dhawan. Later, due to the magical spell of Rashid Khan (3/19), SRH had restricted the solid batting line-up of KKR on a score of 160/9 and won the game by 14 runs. Rashid Khan got the award of Man of the match due to his figures of 3/19 and a batting cameo of 34*(10).
#2 3/19 SRH vs GL in 2017
In the first league match of Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rashid Khan had bowled a super spell against Gujarat Lions. Gujarat had put the score of 135/7 in 20 overs, having a big hand of Rashid in the restriction. He clinched the stumps of Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina and Aaron Finch. Later, SRH batters had single-handedly chased down the target at the loss of just 1 wicket. David Warner and Moises Henriques were the heroes of the chase.
#3 3/19 SRH vs KXIP in 2018
The season of IPL 2018 was among the peak seasons for the franchise of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. In a league match, the deadly spell of Rashid Khan had laid out PBKS on a poor total of 119/10. His economical bowling of 3/19(4) had ensured that Punjab wouldn’t reach near the target of 132/6. The Spell of Vintage Rashid Khan and a half-ton of Manish Pandey in the 1st innings had made the victory so easy for SRH by 13 runs.
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#4 3/21 SRH vs KXIP in 2019
In a second league met up between Sunrisers Hyderabad and KXIP in IPL 2019, SRH had defeated Punjab by 45 runs. Batting first, SRH had put up a mammoth score of 212/6 in the first innings, with the skipper leading from the front with 81(56) and Manish Pandey. But, as Punjab walked in to chase the total, Rashid Khan rattled them on the score of 167 with the spell of 3/21(4). Though man of the match has gone to David Warner, Rashid’s contribution was equally significant as the skipper.
#5 3/27 SRH vs RCB in 2018
There are very few occasions where Rashid Khan had to stand on the disappointing side even after his brilliant performance. In a league encounter, Royal Challengers Bangalore had beat SRH by 14 runs. However, SRH had fought back very vigorously but couldn’t get to the mountainous target of 219 runs. Rashid had picked the critical wickets of Virat Kohli, Moeen Ali and AB de Villiers, but they had come very late in the match, and SRH lost the game by 14 runs.
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