He is the best in the business, and has been for a few years now. And with time, Rashid Khan has only gotten better. Teams now know they need to play him out and not give him wickets. They know he is a threat and prepare for him accordingly. But he is always a step ahead. He knows he has to win the battle in the mind, and prepares himself the best he can. Yet again, that was evident in the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). When everyone around him went for nearly 10 an over or more, Rashid conceded 24 off his four overs. Gujarat Titans (GT) finished top of the pile and have two opportunities to make the final and defend their title. A large part of the credit for that should go to Rashid.
So how does he prepare for the likes of Virat Kohli, who was at his best on Sunday night? Rashid had once explained this rather well.
“All I do is back my strengths,” he said. “I know my strength is my accuracy and I want to play to my strength. If I start to push too hard and put pressure on myself to get a batsman out, it doesn’t help. For if I don’t get the wicket, it starts to create panic. Rather, if the batter is happy taking singles or twos off me, my plan is to make those singles and twos difficult to come by. I know that if he doesn’t get runs, he will be forced to take a chance. There is something called batsman’s ego, and if you are able to choke runs, the batter will inevitably take a risk. That’s your opportunity to get him out. So it is very important for me as a bowler to keep things simple, and back my strengths and my instincts. My job as a bowler is to force the batsman to take risks off me. If he does, I will always have a chance.”
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With more and more players from Afghanistan starting to make a mark in the IPL, Rashid is now a cult figure back home. He is aware of this, and it is something he is seriously proud of.
“Every aspiring cricketer in Afghanistan now believes they have a chance of playing the IPL,” he said. “That it is possible. It is this change in mindset that has made the biggest difference. When they see me and now Noor [Ahmad] and [Rahmanullah] Gurbaz, they are like ‘we can also do it’. Whether they have facilities or not, whether things at home are good or not, whether the conditions they play in are good or not, it doesn’t matter anymore. Now players back home know it is possible to make it to the IPL if they put in the hard yards. What matters is working hard, and working for your dream. If you want it badly, it will happen for you. The mindset has changed, and if we continue playing well, we will see more and more players from Afghanistan playing in the tournament in the future.”
When someone like Kohli, an all-time great of the game, is in great form, it can’t be easy to stop him. And yet Rashid has been able to do so more often than not. Is it only about skill or is it also a battle of minds, I had asked him. His answer was fascinating.
“When you bowl to someone like Virat, the margin for error is practically non-existent,” he said. “What he does is that he takes ones and twos, and puts balls in the gaps for almost all the balls he faces. Without even taking risks, he will score at a good clip. That’s what makes things difficult for the bowler. When you see a batsman taking runs off you without taking any risks and without giving you an opportunity to pick up his wicket, that’s when you know you are up against the best.
“Against other batsmen, you have a chance. If they want to attack you, it means they will give you an opportunity to get them out sooner or later. With Virat, you need to be at your best, for otherwise he will keep putting balls in gaps and scoring his runs without taking risks. So when I bowl to him, I don’t think of who I am bowling to. Rather, I back my strengths for that’s how I have the best chance of getting him out. Bowling to Virat is a contest I have always enjoyed.”
If Gujarat have to go on and win it again, Rashid will have to be at his best against the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway in Chennai on Tuesday night. On a wicket that helps spin, few would bet against him doing just that.