Rashid Khan
Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who is fast turning into one of the best players in T20 franchise cricket, showed glimpses of the improvement he has made as a cricketer with a stellar show in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Khan bowled a miserly spell of 1/9 in four overs and then followed it up with 15 off five balls to help his franchise Lahore Qalandars beat Islamabad United in a PSL game on Wednesday night.
The former Afghanistan captain, who represents SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL and plays in various leagues around the world said he was looking for gaps instead of hard hits after powering Lahore Qalandars to a five-wicket win over Islamabad United.
Khan hit three fours on the first three balls of the last over and helped his franchise score 16 runs off the last over.
"The plan that I went to the crease with, my mindset was: I am not going to play big shots here because if I did that I could have gotten out," he said after the match.
"When I got there I thought I will just try and find some gaps here. The bowler was new also. If he bowled in my areas my thinking was just to try and hit gaps."
Khan had a poor outing for SRH with the bat, although he was extremely successful with the ball, picking 10 wickets and more importantly conceding runs at 6.14 an over.
"Definitely, in games and situations like this, you have to keep a cool mind. You have to stay relaxed. When you need six sixes, you have to go for it. Here I just needed two proper shots and you win the game," he said after the game.
He had recently said he is not interested in captaining Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup.
The 22-year-old player has 95 wickets in 51 T20 Internationals and has also taken 140 wickets in 74 ODIs. He has also picked 34 wickets in five Test matches.
But his biggest success has come in the T20 franchise cricket. In 260 T20 matches, he has 361 wickets.
