Quick arm action & speed make my googlies deceptive: Rashid Khan

Afghanistan and Sunrisers Hyderabad leg-spinner Rashid Khan feels that his quick arm action and speed make it difficult for batsmen to pick his googlies.

The 22-year-old is renowned for bowling a lot of wrong ‘uns in T20 cricket. Also, according to CricViz, Rashid Khan has a bowling speed of 92.3, while the average speed of leg-spinners is 87.1.

In an interview with Cricwick, Rashid Khan explained the rationale behind why he prefers bowling the googly a lot.

“I think the main reason is that people find it difficult to pick my googlies due to my bowling action, which is straight. I also have a quick arm action and some speed as well. All this gives me some advantage. Even if I bowl six googlies in one over, batsmen might think that I had bowled two or three because they haven't picked it. Also, the release point of my leg-spinner and my googly is the same.”

Asked why other leg-spinners are wary of bowling too many wrong ‘uns, Rashid Khan felt that it was because they did not want batsmen to get used to their variations.

“The other spinners may not be bowling their wrong ‘uns a lot because they do not want the batsmen to get used to their variations. Else, the batters might be able to figure out which is a leg spinner and which is a googly. For me, it comes naturally due to my action. So that’s mainly the reason why I bowl a lot of googlies and mix it up more. If I bowl more leg spinners and less wrong ‘uns, I might not be that effective.”

Rashid Khan also stated that he considers himself a finger spinner and not a wrist spinner because he hardly used his wrist and bowls with the top of the fingers.

Rashid Khan Signaling about Leg Spin & Googly. pic.twitter.com/C43hX1euCy

— Taimoor Zaman (@taimoorze) April 4, 2019

Variation among spinners reason for success in T20s: Rashid Khan

The latest ICC T20 rankings for bowlers feature only one pacer in the Top 10 - New Zealand’s Tim Southee. All the others are spinners.

Asked why slow bowlers have proved to be so successful in the T20 format, Rashid Khan put it down to the variations that the bowlers possess. He explained:

“I think it is because of variations that the spinners nowadays have. Earlier, bowlers used to bowl mostly leg spin, they didn’t send down too many googlies. That’s why I feel earlier spinners were not so successful. Now almost every spinner has a number of variations. They bowl sliders, flippers, leg spinners, wrong ‘uns, everything, which troubles the batsmen.”

Rashid Khan will soon be seen in action for Lahore Qalandars in PSL 2021. The T20 league is set to resume in Abu Dhabi on June 9.

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