It hasn’t gone all too swimmingly for Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan in the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
After starting the tournament strongly, the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowler has been on the receiving end of some punishment in his last two outings.
Rashid, who is the No.1 ranked T20I bowler in the world currently, was taken for 55 and 49 runs respectively in his side’s losses to Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings.
The 19-year-old came into the direct line of fire from Chris Gayle’s bat as he was smashed for four sixes in a single over in Kings XI Punjab’s win. The leg-spin prodigy is usually one of the most miserly bowlers in the T20 format with a career economy-rate of less than six runs an over.
Sunrisers skipper Kane Williamson has backed the Afghanistan ace to bounce back strongly after the two highly expensive spells.
Rashid Khan has ensured that the Strike Rate of Lewis doesn’t cross 50 in his innings, will this continue today or will the strike rate decrease further?#MIvSRH #IPL2018 pic.twitter.com/LvSZ2jNFeZ
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) April 24, 2018
“Rashid is a world class bowler. T20 cricket does not make exemptions for any bowler to escape pressure. Any bowler can be hit, so that’s the nature of the game and I suppose he has learnt a huge amount in such a short period of time,” the Kiwi told PTI.
“Last couple of games, it is been a couple of special knocks, from people, who have played Rashid nicely but he is a world class bowler and will bounce back well. You need to embrace those challenges and I know he will,” he added.
Rashid and Sunrisers Hyderabad will be in action on Tuesday evening when they take on the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede stadium.
