Rashid Khan – Mysterious Spin Decoded: Rashid Khan has risen to become one of the most valuable T20 bowlers. The Afghanistan leg spinner is on the wishlist of teams in leagues around the world.
He is hard to read for batsmen and he can cause havoc with his Googlies and Leg breaks. But how does he do it?
1. The back of his hand is pointing towards the batsman
The enigmatic Rashid Khan has tormented the batsmen across the globe with his mysterious spin. The Afghan leg-spinner’s dazzling performances have left many a team frustrated, especially in T20 matches. Currently, he tops the ICC T20 bowlers rankings with clear dominance over the batsmen.
Rashid’s trump card is his googly, which has led to the dismissal of many big-name batsmen, including Mandeep Singh, Rahul Chawla, Finch and Rohit Sharma. It’s not the biggest turner of the ball, but it does cause a lot of trouble for the batter by deceiving them. He is quick through the air and maintains a stump-to-stump line, which makes it difficult for the batsmen to play him.
Another reason why his leg-spin is lethal is because of the rotation that happens with it. He keeps his thumb and index finger apart while bowling a leg-spin, unlike most other spinners who use the same hand for both variations. He also uses the tip of his middle finger to add some extra speed, which leads to a sharp turn in the delivery.
But the most important thing about his leg-spin is that it is extremely difficult for batsmen to pick. The best way to pick it is to watch the rotation of the seam, which is hard to do when he releases it at high speeds. But if you have good eyesight and can see the movement of the seam, you can easily pick this variation.
However, if you are not good at picking his googly, then the other two leg-spin variations will be very easy to pick. He can bowl a straight leg-spin or a conventional leg break that does not turn much, which is what caused the likes of Mishra and Bishnoi to get beaten. It’s important for batsmen to keep an eye out for these changes as they are bound to happen often. Then, they can make their preparations accordingly.
2. The seam is scrambled for both googly and leg spin
The Afghan leg spinner Rashid Khan is a lethal weapon for his team and one of the best in the game at the moment. His googlies and top-spinners trap the batsmen at the stumps with a sharp angle and don’t turn big like a typical leg break would. The question is how he manages to do this? Well, it is a combination of a few things.
First, he uses a different grip on his googlies than on his leg spin. For the latter, he divides his thumb and index finger with his middle finger while leaving his ring finger alone. This is a similar grip that leg spinners normally use for their stock delivery. It helps him bowl a quicker leg spin than the standard delivery and also get some extra bounce.
He also bowls a variation where he holds the ball with a full crease grip. This makes the ball release off his ring finger, giving it more angle than his other two variations. He also bends his wrist a little more for this variation, which further adds to the difference in spin between it and his stock leg spin.
Another factor that helps him is his arm speed. He moves his hand forward quickly, unlike most leg spinners who move it backward. This allows him to bowl his leg spin faster and gives the impression that the ball is coming towards the batsman.
The most important factor, however, is the way he manipulates the seam on his googlies and leg spin. He does this by making it scrambled in a way that is not easy to detect for the batsmen. Most modern legspinners do this in order to hide the fact that their seam is slanting towards third man and deceive the batters.
While this might not be enough to make a batsman think twice, it does help in reducing the difference in spin between his googlies and leg spin. This, combined with his other tricks and skills, is why he is so hard to play against. The next time you face Rashid Khan, be prepared for a thriller.
3. Rashid Khan bends his arm for googly
The enigmatic Afghanistan spinner has taken the world by storm and is one of the most sought-after bowlers for T20 leagues. His googlies and leg break variations have left the batsmen scratching their heads and he has made it hard for them to score off him. But what makes him so lethal? Is it his quick action or is there more to it than that?
To understand how batsmen struggle against Rashid Khan, you need to look at his delivery technique. He uses a different grip than most leg spinners and it gives him an edge over others. He holds the ball tightly and pushes hard with his fingers to give the ball plenty of rotation. This allows him to bowl a googly that is more difficult to pick than a conventional leg spinner’s.
He can also vary his pace to make it even harder for the batters. The fastest delivery by a spinner in the last two seasons was at 95 kph, which is well above what most spinners bowl at. He bowls a good length as well, which is the best way for a spinner to get wickets.
In addition to this, he has a quick arm speed which adds to the difficulty for the batsmen to read him. In fact, he is so fast that his deliveries often land past the stumps and this is another reason why he has been so successful in T20 cricket.
This unique bowling style has allowed him to take a lot of wickets in T20 cricket. However, it might be difficult for him to replicate his success in Test cricket where the batsmen have been trained to pick his spin better.
Rashid is part of the new generation of unconventional leg spinners and he is one of the very few that has been successful at international level. He has an excellent control on his spin and has the highest percentage of wickets taken in the form of bowled or lbw when compared to other leg spinners. This shows that his control is the key to his success and he knows how to get the most out of the batsmen.
4. He releases the ball from a higher position
Rashid Khan’s googly and leg spin variations can make it difficult for batsmen to tell one from the other. This is what makes him such a threat. Moreover, his bowling speed ensures that batters can’t catch up with him.
This is how he manages to get batsmen out so easily and consistently in the T20 format. It’s no wonder that he is the best T20 bowler in the world right now.
He debuted for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2017 IPL curtain raiser and soon became their mainstay. He was quick to secure franchise deals with Guyana Amazon Warriors and Adelaide Strikers in the following seasons. He has also been a mainstay in the Afghanistan side.
His talent and competitiveness in the T20 circuit have catapulted him to the top of ICC’s rankings. He is the first name on wishlists of teams in T20 leagues across the world.
The Afghan leg-spinner is a nightmare for batsmen to play in any format. He is hard to pick, has a wide range of variation and maintains stump to stump line. He can even bowl a top-spin and leave the batsman in a precarious position.
To add to that, his pace means that he doesn’t need to go for too many short deliveries. He tends to bowl a good proportion of his balls in the “good length” zone. Moreover, he is also effective on a shorter length as well.
According to LS, Rashid Khan releases the ball from a higher position for both his googly and leg break deliveries. He uses his index and middle finger to exert more force on the ball. This causes the ball to have more of a turn than normal. Moreover, the angle of release for these two deliveries is quite different as well.
The higher angle of the release and the extra power from the fingers create a different angle for the ball as it enters the pitch. This gives the ball more spin and turns the batsmen off their feet. Consequently, the ball goes straight and hits the stumps.
