5 reasons why Rashid Khan is the best T20I bowler

His googly is akin to entering into the Bermuda triangle. The batsman facing him has no clue how to deal with this menace, who is going to take him down. The batsman either prods forward, leaving a gap for the ball to knock back into his stumps or takes a step backward that finds him plumb in front of the stumps. The jubilant bowler celebrates the dismissal with his boyish charm. Yes, he is, of course, none other than Rashid Khan.

With the bowling figures of 3 for 13 against Bangladesh in the first of the three T20I matches being played at Dehradun, Rashid completed a set of 50 T20I wickets. While he is the second-fastest bowler to take 50 wickets in terms of T20Is played, he is fastest in terms of time taken to get to 50 wickets (2 years and 226 days, almost one year less than the second-best).

Here are the five reasons why Rashid is the best T20 bowler in the world.

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#1 Backed by Data

In recent years, we have seen revolutionary changes in the way cricket is now watched by people. This has led to a huge uplift in the data analytics of the game. So here are a few statistics that prove Rashid’s claim at the top.

Rashid Khan’s bowling average of 13.57 (Runs conceded per wicket) is the best in T20Is for any bowler who has bowled in more than 10 innings. Next best is Ajantha Mendis, who has not played a T20I in the last four years.

Despite being a leg-spinner, Rashid Khan has managed an economy of 6.03, which is virtually equal to the other T20I bowling legend, Sunil Narine whose economy is 6.02. Six runs per over is T20Is is an exemplary performance.

Another major feature of the Afghan’s bowling is the discipline that he maintains. This is evident from his dismissal summary. Of the 52 wickets that he has picked so far, 29 have been either bowled or Leg Before Wicket (LBW). This is significantly better than any other bowler.

We have already seen how Rashid is the fastest to reach 50 T20I wickets. The numbers are clearly behind the teenage leg-spinner.

#2 Legend Killer

Rashid Khan dismissed big fishes in this season of IPL 2018

“Bowl to the batsman in front of you, not to his reputation” is an adage that is often used in cricket. Some bowlers dread the idea of bowling to AB De Villiers, Virat Kohli or MS Dhoni. But Rashid is different. He not only bowls against them but sends them back to the pavilion as well.

In the brief international career of Rashid, where he has played 31 matches, most have been against lowly nations. He has played only a solitary match against Sri Lanka, England and South Africa. So he has not scalped the bigger fishes, yet.

This does not mean that Rashid cannot stand against top-class players. He proved it in both the seasons of the IPL that he played in. In the IPL, the list of his victims include the names of Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Steven Smith, Ben Stokes (IPL 2017), KL Rahul (twice), MS Dhoni, AB De Villiers (twice) and Virat Kohli (IPL 2018).

With Afghanistan now slated to face the major teams more often, Rashid Khan will be eager to add more such illustrious names to his fast-growing collection.

#3 Performances all over the world

Rashid Khan was the joint highest wicket-taker in Big Bash 2017-18

In the brief career of two years, Rashid Khan at an international level has already bowled in six countries and has played against 11 nations. His overwhelming success has undoubtedly been on the pitches of India and UAE but that does not imply that he is unsuccessful otherwise.

Playing in the age of T20 globalization means players now have to adapt to the foreign conditions quickly and deliver for their franchise. Rashid Khan played for Guyana in the CPL 2017 (West Indies) and the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash 2017-18 (Australia).

In contrasting conditions, Rashid emerged on top with his bowling. In CPL, he picked a hat-trick and took 14 wickets in total in the 12 matches that he played. On the unhelpful pitches of Australia, he was the joint highest wicket-taker in the Big Bash season with 18 wickets from 11 matches at an astonishing economy of 5.65.

Even in the recently concluded IPL 2018, Rashid Khan ended up as the second highest wicket-taker in the tournament. He was named Man of the Match four times in the whole season.

#4 The lethal googly

Rashid Khan has a CPL hat-trick for Guyana Amazon Warriors against Jamaica

The first ball that Sabbir Rehman received from Rashid Khan in the first T20I, pitched outside off-stump, spun back sharply and thudded into the pad of the batsman waiting on the back-foot. The googly deceived him.

In the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, bowling to Virat Kohli, Rashid floated an innocuous delivery. Kohli went for the expansive drive, only to see his stumps castled. The googly deceived him.

Playing for the Guyana Amazon Warriors team in the CPL 2017, Rashid took a hat-trick against Jamaica Tallawahas. All three balls were googlies, the incoming batsmen had no idea about this devil and all three were clean bowled. The googlies deceived them.

The analysis reveals that Rashid’s googly turns more than an average googly bowled by a leg-spinner. His body movement and quick-arm action provide no clue to the batsman whatsoever. The clever intermittent usage of the special delivery makes Rashid a deadly bowler.

#5 The ability to overcome failures

The Afghan leggie has a bright future in front of him

In the very young career of Rashid, he has largely been successful and has not seen many failures. In the 31 T20I innings that he has bowled in, he has ended up without a wicket only five times. But there have been a few lows as well.

The T20I World Cup 2016 in India, pitted Afghanistan against South Africa at the Wankhede Stadium. AB de Villiers used the opportunity to teach Rashid a lesson and carted him all over the place. The bowler ended with the figures of 51 for 0 in his four overs.

Bouncing back strongly from this nefarious performance, Rashid Khan bamboozled England with 2/17 from his four overs. Since then, the youngster has shown immense guts and maturity to deliver time and again for his country.

Even in the IPL 2018, Rashid experienced a brutal assault at the hands of Chris Gayle (1/55 in four overs) and Chennai Super Kings team (1/49 in four overs) in consecutive matches. The leg-spinner made a few changes to his length and picked up the Man of the Match award in his next match against Mumbai Indians for his 2/11 in four overs.

When asked about the above experience, Rashid said, “You don’t realize your mistakes until you get hit hard". With plenty of cricketing years ahead of him, the Afghan leg-spinner is all set to rewrite the bowling record of limited-overs cricket.