IPL 2022: "I'll try my best to keep him relaxed" - Rashid Khan ready to mentor Noor Ahmad at Gujarat Titans

Senior Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan is raring to mentor compatriots Noor Ahmad and Rahmanullah Gurbaz at Gujarat Titans (GT) in IPL 2022.

The youngest player to be a part of the IPL 2022 auction, 17-year-old Ahmad has already played in the Pakistan Super League and the Big Bash League. In 37 T20s overall, the left-arm wrist spinner has picked up 35 wickets at an average of 29.60 and a fine economy rate of 7.39, with 3-12 being his best figures.

He recently represented Afghanistan at the U19 World Cup, claiming 10 wickets in six matches. He was then signed by the Hardik Pandya-led Titans for his base price ₹30 lakh at the auction last month.

Speaking at a pre-season press conference, Rashid Khan was all praise for the youngster but cautioned that the "IPL is a very big stage" which requires a lot of mental strength to succeed. The leggie added that as a senior player, he'll share his experience and try to keep Ahmad calm and relaxed.

Rashid Khan said:

"Noor is a young, talented player. He has played a lot of cricket in the BBL and PSL and U-19 World Cup as well, so he has got that bit of understanding. He has the skills and experience but IPL is a very big stage and you have to be very strong mentally and you have to very well prepared for this event."

He added:

"Definitely, I'll try to share all my experience of these last 5-6 years in the IPL with him and give him as much confidence as possible. That'll definitely help him. In these two months, I'll try my best to keep him relaxed and don't let him feel like he's at a stage where he has to perform. He should keep everything simple for himself. As a player who has played a lot in the IPL, I'll try and give him that space so he could enjoy himself..."

Apart from almost having a mirror-image bowling action to Rashid Khan, Ahmad is a good power-hitter as well. But he's unlikely to feature in the Titans' playing XI and might be used as his senior countryman's backup in the team.

The Titans have also signed another young Afghan sensation, Gurbaz, to their team. Gurbaz is a promising hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batter with over 1600 T20 runs at a strike rate of over 150 to go along with an experience of 20 T20Is.

Rashid Khan said it's a "big opportunity" for the 20-year-old to learn and improve his and the national team's overall skills. He said:

"It's also a big opportunity for Gurbaz to learn as much as he can, gain experience and improve as much as possible. Definitely, his game, experience and mind will be changed after this IPL. Not only him, but it's also very handy for Afghanistan as well, you know, a youngster coming and learning here."

Gurbaz replaced Jason Roy in the team after the latter pulled out, citing bio-bubble fatigue. Although the Titans are likely to pick Matthew Wade or Wriddhiman Saha over him, Gurbaz could get some opportunities midway through the season.

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"The more questions you ask the batters, the better results you'll get" - Rashid Khan

Sharing his own mentality ahead of the season, Rashid Khan said he tries to keep things simple by bowling wicket-to-wicket and making sure the batters double guess his variations. He said:

"As a spinner the more questions you ask the batters, the better results you'll get. That means bowling wicket-to-wicket. Because when you do that in T20 cricket, the batter thinks double like, 'If I take the risk I will get out but If I miss, I'll get out as well'. If you keep bowling free-hand then he doesn't think about the second option."

He added:

"When you have leg-spin, wrong-one, flipper and you bowl at the wickets, you keep asking questions from the batters and that's where you become more effective as well. That's my mindset too that the more I keep it consistent and repeat it, the better it is for me. The performance and consistency is about keeping everything simple. Keep your skills and talent simple..."

Gujarat Titans will play their first game of the season against the Lucknow Super Giants on March 28.