The way I bowl has been very natural to me, says Rashid Khan

Rashid is a very unique and his skillset at a very young age stands out.

Rashid has the game to excel across all formats. (AFP)

Rashid Khan is special. And, he is not just special for he is a wrist spinner. He is special for how naturally different and more precisely, brilliant he is. He has this unique ability to bowl quicker through the air than most wrist spinners and is still able to turn the ball. The other thing that remarkably stands out with his bowling is the ability to bowl a leg cutter from the wrist position of a googly. In a way calling this high arm, accurate, finger trickery bowler, just a wrist spinner would be underrating him. 

Rashid understands his game, inside out, at the age of just 19 and feels glad that growing up he was given freedom and not tinkered too much by the various coaches he worked with. He was recently heard saying to the Mumbai Mirror that, “Up until now, the way I bowl has been natural. I’ve always bowled this way, I had no facilities growing up. Mostly, I played with my brothers. We played with a tennis ball. I haven’t even played that much domestic cricket. All my practice took place in the house with my brothers... that’s how I improved ...”

Rashid knew he had to be different and but work around the simplicity of his class, even for this level. “To perform to the same level was tough, Taking wickets is not in my hands, I can only bowl good deliveries and dot balls.”, It is following the MS Dhoni brand of "process before results" precisely. 

It is getting Dhoni out in this year's IPL, where he took 21 wickets, stood out as his most beloved moment. It happened by sticking to his simplistic brilliance and his magic as well. “My pace is my strength and it is what makes my bowling unique, It is all natural, When I say natural, I mean when I started playing with my brothers, from that point I have been bowling like this. I have not seen it or learned it from anyone.”

“Last year, I didn’t bowl him [Dhoni] too many googlies, This year also I did not bowl many googlies. Mostly, I bowled legs breaks to him. I was trying to get him out that way because he likes to step out and I was thinking if I beat him, I could get him out stumped. But in this match, the ball was gripping nicely and the wicket was taking turn. I bowled him two or three leg breaks. Then I thought if I can land a googly on the right spot, I can get him out. And that’s what happened.”

 

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 04 Jun, 2018

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