Rashid Khan has rediscovered the joy of bowling leg-spin. Whereas last season, he looked ponderous and reluctant, distrustful of his own methods, or trying too hard, he is smiling more often this campaign, he has regained the intensity of his action and not rushing through it, and the ball is obeying its master’s wishes.
Among Rashid’s three wickets, the one that pleased him the most was the wicket of Sameer Rizvi, the googly that spun deviously to shatter the stumps of Delhi’s man in golden touch. “I think that it was after a long time, I got such a wicket,” Rashid said with a glee after the game against Delhi Capitals. “As a leg-spinner you want that kind of a delivery, where you beat the batter. Quite happy with that. That is something which gave me so much confidence.” Leg-spinners especially are confidence bowlers. The state of mind reflects on their bowling.
Delhi Capitals batsman Sameer Rizvi gets outfoxed by Gujarat Titans’ Rashid Khan during an IPL match at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday. (EXPRESS PHOTO BY PRAVEEN KHANNA)
The ball was slower, hung in the air a tad bit longer than usual, dropped before Rizvi had judged and snuck through the enormous gap between the DC batsman’s bat and pad. The revvs were substantial; so was the turn. It was a sign that Rashid has rekindled his zip and menace after slipping for a couple of seasons (only 19 wickets in 27 games in IPL 16 and 17). “What happened last year is gone, you know, that’s the past,” he noted philosophically. “I had a kind of bad season where I didn’t bowl that good. But it is not like if you have a bad season, you are gone, like everything is exposed,” Rashid added, a firmness shining in his eyes.
After last season, though, he knew something was amiss. Something needed to be worked on. He thought deeply. “Like, okay, what’s wrong now? Where I’m, what’s the thing I’m missing? And I feel like it was the whole rhythm from starting to the finishing. What was not allowing me to be the bowler I was was. I still had a bit of pain in my back. And I was scared of, like, what’s gonna happen if I push it again?” He was bowling slower, rather he couldn’t modulate the pace as efficiently as he often does, and realised that his body had gone out of shape.
Rashid found the answer. “I just need to work on my core. I tried my best to make it as strong as possible. And then, you know, just to go on with full energy. So he decided to take a break and focus on fitness. “ I gave myself a couple of months after the last IPL and focused on my fitness. That’s something which I can improve and that does allow my body to bowl with the full rhythm,” he revealed.
Post the surgery to his lower back in 2023, Rashid has struggled to find his rhythm. Packed calendar was the reason he kept postponing the surgery, which in turn aggravated his injury. He recounted: “Before the 2023 IPL, the doctor told me to undergo surgery. But I thought, theek hain I can play the IPL I went to the doctor again, and he said I need to do the surgery. I told him I wanna play in this World Cup. Doesn’t matter how it is, but I will think about it after. I pushed myself a lot in that World Cup.”
But after the World Cup, Rashid realised that his back was gone. “I could barely walk.” Post surgery, he was not quite the same. “When I came back, I was very, very careful with my back. That, I think, affected my bowling action and release and everything. So, I was trying to be careful,” he admitted.
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Once Rashid strengthened his core, he regained his confidence in his action. A profitable outing in The Hundred re-instilled his confidence. Rashid’s form fluctuated in the T20 World Cup, but for IPL, he was ready to torment batsmen again.
The joy was evident in his tone too. In the press conference, he was in a playful mood. Before it started, he made a self-deprecatory joke: “All-rounder I guess. Bhool gaya shayad. Haven’t hit a six in the IPL.” Later, to a question on adding variations, he chuckled and said: “Bhai, kya badayenge yo? I bowl consistently, either I bowl leg-spin, wrong one, or flipper. But hitting the right area, that’s challenging for me. And every day I’m trying my best to improve.”
He gave a gist of his mindset when bowling. “If I hit the right area, the right thing is going to happen. If I bowl badly, anybody can hit me,” he discerned. “As a bowler, you should think about, like, okay, what’s the toughest ball I can bowl on this wicket to make it harder for the batter? It’s more important that you have the control over where you want to bowl (rather than the variations).” Against DC, he was in that zen, landing the ball where he wanted to.
