Rashid Khan knows how to intrigue and amaze people but he took it to another level recently, When he said, "I call myself a finger spinner, sounds unusual but that's how I bowl, I don't use my wrist a lot in my bowling. I use my fingers as I deliver using the tip of my fingers. That helps me bowl quicker. I am a leg-spinner who bowls good wrong-uns."

This is the most enterprising wrist spinner in the modern game, not calling himself one at all. If one digs deep though, this is an excellent observation of one's own game. It specifically shows how much he understands his cricket, which for a 19-year-old from a country that is just starting to play top-level international cricket, is absolutely remarkable. Great players think differently, but they also have a better understanding of their game than everyone else. 

Rashid Khan is the toughest of the wrist spinners that the modern day batsman has come across. Ever since the T20-isation of our sport took place and the big bats, flat pitches and short boundaries became ineffaceable in the white ball game, the best way to curb the rampaging batsman has been to remove them from the crease and surest way to this aim has been wrist spin. 

The trajectory makes the difference. Modern batsmen, other than the exceptional ones, are vulnerable against anything that doesn't come in straight lines. Everytime a batsman faces Wrist Spin, the ball comes in curved and not straight lines. It has made fingerspin go full dinosaurs like extinct in ODI and has led to a Pheonix like rise from ashes of the wrist spinner. 

But, the game is ever evolving. Good batsmen are getting used to the sexier art ever so quickly and are adapting and so, to beat the best you need to become the best as well. Rashid Khan is one such exceptionally skilled cricketer. 

He does everything that a normal leg-spinner does and does more. It is his quicker and flatter trajectory through the air and yet getting the ball to swivel and drift in the air and find turn from the surface, that makes him different from the rest. He is doing what most spinners of his genre are doing but is doing it quicker than the others. It is his stern fingers coupled with a strong bowling shoulder that allows him to do so. Therein lies the reason why he calls himself more a fingerspinner.  

The batsmen develop a psyche over time when they face a certain kind of bowler, they have an instinct for him, Rashid Khan completely forces them out of their comfort zones and catches them there itself. What also makes him unique is a ball that he has developed growing up, he can unlike most legspinners bowl the leg-cutter from the back of the hand, like a googly. It is tough to gauge for a batsman midway through his stride anyway but Rashid has made this even tougher by training his mind to pick the batsman's shot earlier than most and his fingers in a way where he can change the grip of the ball while in his delivery stride. 

This is hardwork, of many balls bowled in the Kabul sun while growing up to attain simplicit brilliance over an art and then being coupled with magic, coming to the fore. This is genius. This is Rashid Khan. 

It has made him the most popular cricketer across various T20 teams in different leagues around the world. It has made him the number one ranked T20 international bowler. It has given him immense success in the ODI game and his skill will also allow him to transition into a quality Test bowler. Surprised? Well..don't be. It is what he does is more pertinent here than where he does it. Rashid may be excelling really well right now in T20 but he has the game to transition into a world-class Test bowler for his country. 

When we see him going through extremely economical spells in the shortest form of the game, it is not only his miserliness but what he does to attain it, also stands out. He has this impeccable accuracy, which makes the batsman dehydrated at the crease and what makes this even more ripe for the highest level of the game, is his repetitive action which he has a muscle memory for. 

All he needs then is a strong temperament which the red ball game will command from him. Great thing is that he has played first-class cricket before and has started to mentally preparing himself for the Test game. 

He was recently heard saying, "I have done well in whatever four-day opportunities that I have got. If I make changes in my bowling thinking about the Test, it will not be good for me. I will bowl with the same speed I have been bowling so far,"

"I have to make sure that I don't panic. I know there will be a phase where I won't pick up a wicket for 20 overs. And I could pick up two in two overs. It is Test cricket, It is going to be a test of patience. There is a possibility that I might end up being wicketless," 

This third week of June, everyone will be watching with their eyes glued to see how he does in a format he has never played before at this level. When Rashid Khan comes across a Cheteshwar Pujara or an Ajinkya Rahane in a format where these exceptional players will have the time to read what he does and the different situations will pose unique challenges, he needn't feel overawed. He has the game to succeed there as well. He just has to remain Rashid Khan. An exceptional cricketer, who is on a quest for excellence.  

(Quotes from TOI)