Rashid Khan reveals that he wasn’t a fan of this legendary spinner while growing up

Rashid recently played in Afghanistan’s maiden Test match against India.

Rashid feels he is a tad different from Warne as a leg-spinner

Shane Keith Warne is widely regarded as the greatest spinner to have played the game of cricket. Warne revolutionized cricket with his mastery of leg spin, which many cricket experts had come to think as a dying art due to its immense difficulty of execution.

He came into the limelight by producing the "Ball of the Century" to get rid of England's Mike Gatting during the first Test of 1993 Ashes series at Old Trafford, Manchester. Warne didn’t only turn the ball prodigiously but also mesmerized the fans with his unerring accuracy and a plethora of variations.

Warne was the first bowler ever to claim 700 Test wickets which were later overtaken by his spin counterpart Muttiah Muralitharan. He finished his career by taking 708 wickets in 145 Tests and 293 wickets in 194 ODIs.

However, the most exciting leg-spinner of modern times, Rashid Khan, wasn’t a fan of Australian spin legend while growing up. Recently, Rashid appeared in Gaurav Kapur’s popular web-show ‘Breakfast with Champions’, where he revealed that he followed the likes of Anil Kumble and Shahid Afridi as his idols.

“Shane Warne was a big spinner back then, but I didn’t like him much. Afridi and Kumble were my inspirations because they used to bowl quickly unlike Warne,” Rashid quoted in the show.

Here’s the full video:

After impressing one and all with his credentials in the shortest format, Rashid recently played in Afghanistan’s maiden Test match against India at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

Amidst plenty of expectations, the Afghan leggie couldn’t quite deliver against the Indian batsmen. Rashid managed to scalp only two wickets by conceding 154 runs as Afghanistan suffered a humiliating defeat by an innings and 262 runs.

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 17 Jun, 2018

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