It was a strange sight. At Delhi’s Arun Jaitley
Stadium, Rashid Khan prowled around the outfield under the Bishan Singh Bedi
Stand while Rohit Sharma sped to 76 off 43 and disregarded Afghanistan’s 272
for 8. Despite the fact that the opposition’s best bowler was at deep
midwicket, India was cruising to an eight-wicket victory.
India was 125 for 0 when Rashid finally entered the
fray to bowl the 15th over. Ishan Kishan was caught at cover and Rohit was
bowled after being hit for three consecutive boundaries. However, these
dismissals only served to highlight the oddity: why did Afghanistan use five
other bowlers before Rashid?
It was the most recent match in Rashid’s strange and
unimpressive World Cup history, which has now lasted 11 games. He is already a
top-tier white-ball bowler at the age of 25, and he will pass Dwayne Bravo as
the T20 era’s best wicket-taker sometime in the coming year. And yet, in
50-over cricket, he has generally lacked that success.
His overall ODI record is outstanding; in 96 games, he
has taken 174 wickets at an average of 19.91. However, he has taken just 13
wickets at an average of 44.30 in his dozen games against teams in the top six
of the ICC rankings, while almost 100 of those wickets have come against
Ireland and Zimbabwe.
Watson believes that Rashid’s struggle to convert his
T20 form into 50-over cricket owes to the specifics of the format: with only
four fielders permitted outside the 30-yard circle in the middle overs of an
ODI, he has less protection in the deep. “When batters feel like they need
to take Rashid Khan on, that really does bring him into the game,” Watson
told
Throughout their T20 encounters, Watson noticed that
when Rashid went wicketless early in his spell, he would “start chasing
wickets” by bowling fuller than his natural length. “He’s going to
try and bowl more miracle balls… try to bowl a bit slower, or a bit fuller,
which means there are more scoring opportunities for the set batters.”
On Wednesday night, that pattern came to pass. After
Rohit cut Rashid for four runs, Rashid’s next ball was slightly fuller and
straighter and was smashed over the leg side for another four runs. A googly
was his next shot, and Rohit smashed a six with it by swinging it away over the
leg side.
Rashid will face an England team on Sunday that will
want to put him under pressure. They have all faced off against Rashid in
professional or international cricket; four years ago, they scored 110 runs,
including 11 sixes, off of his nine overs in Manchester.
Rashid has had a demanding schedule this year, playing
in six different franchise leagues, and he has been dealing with back pain for
a while. He cannot just shut off when he is not playing since he is the most
well-known cricketer in Afghanistan.
Rashid at his best, grinning after defeating a batter
or wheeling away with his arms raised in delight, is one of the few sporting
sights that can deliver greater satisfaction. Afghanistan will be hoping that
they serve as the World Cup’s iconic pictures in 2023.