World Cup 2019: Where is the real Rashid Khan?

When you think of Rashid Khan you think of an unplayable bowler. Even the best of batsmen have failed to figure out his variations in some of the best T20 leagues. But at the World Cup 2019, the case is completely different.

The Rashid in the game against England wasn't the Rashid we know. He was somebody else with his mask. It's hard to believe that Rashid can be hit for so many runs.

The 20-year-old spinner, who has carried Afghanistan cricket for a while now, had a nightmare outing against the hosts. He was hit for 110 in his nine overs and even without bowling his 10th he has the most expensive figures for a bowler in the World Cup. He was also hit for 11 sixes in his nine overs.

So is there anything wrong with Rashid, or it was just a bad day which he has to forget?

In the five games he has played this World Cup, Rashid has only three wickets to his name at an average of 74.67 and an economy rate of 7.04. Three wickets in five games would be decent numbers for other bowlers, but not for Rashid; not for the star bowler of the team.

There is no escaping the fact that the Afghan team is heavily dependent on the young leggie, and the truth is that he has failed to deliver.

There are two ways to look at it. Either the batsmen have finally solved his mystery, or it’s just a case of lack of form from which he will come back strongly. But if you have a closer look at the games which he played, you would be inclined to think it is more the former than the latter.

Batsmen are finding ways to play him out. In the first four games, the batsmen didn’t attack him much. They were happy to take whatever they got but didn’t want to give wickets to the star bowler.

Even in the England game, in his first two overs, Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root were happy to rotate the strike and take singles. He had given away just 9 runs in his first two overs.

In his third over, Bairstow launched into Rashid and hit a six and a four. After that, it was just a day to forget for him. You have to give it to the England skipper Eoin Morgan as well, because that was six hitting at its absolute best. He himself was surprised with the number of sixes he hit.

Coming back to the leggie, the question has to be asked: has Rashid's mystery become a thing of the past? There is so much analysis nowadays that you are going to be found out at some point in time. Batsmen all over the world would have studied Rashid and understood what he is doing.

Every team has found out its own way of tackling the leggie. And you have to say most of them have been fairly successful till now.

What's next for Rashid? He has to bring in something new. You look at all the bowlers who have been successful over the years and you would see that they keep improving year after year. Rashid would have to do the same.

As a bowler, you have to keep evolving with time or else the batsmen will catch up with you. Maybe he could add some more variations or just try and alter his pace. Rashid's strengths are his leg-break and his googly. So maybe he can bring in more variations like the flipper or the top-spinner. These are very difficult balls to bowl and won't come overnight.

At the moment, Rashid bowls quick and flat. Maybe he can try flighting the ball once in a while and see what is on offer.

The 20-year-old is realizing that the 50-over-format is different from the T20 format. The batsmen are constantly coming at you in the shortest format. But in ODIs, they have the time to take a few overs before going after any bowler. Rashid will have to find a way to pick up wickets when the batsmen are not trying to hit him.

Bishan Singh Bedi, one of the finest spinners ever, believes this is a part of the learning curve and that Rashid would only become a better bowler after the game against England. It's hard to disagree with the great spinner because every bowler goes through a tough period. There will be days when the opposition is just on a roll and you can’t do much about that.

Kuldeep Yadav had a really poor IPL, but he is slowly making a comeback. The same could be the case with Rashid.

It is important for the Afghan to rediscover his mojo because he is a superstar in his country. He is inspiring a whole nation by breaking records for fun, and it would be sad to see him fade away.

So let’s hope the Rashid which turned up on the field against England was the fake one, and that the real one makes a comeback sooner rather than later.

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