STRIKERS COUNTING ON KHAN

CRICKET:

The Adelaide Strikers are backing trump card Rashid Khan to bounce back from a rare walloping in the knockout BBL final against Sydney Thunder tonight.

The Hobart Hurricanes, opting to predominantly nantly sweep the spinnner, smacked 35 runs off Rashid in three wicketless overs in the Strikers’ last oututing – his most expensive economy rate in the tournament so far.

Strikers captain Travis Head expects the Thunder batsmen to repeat the sweeping tactic against Rashid (pictured) at Adelaide Oval tonight but doubts the tweaker will be fazed.

“A lot of them will sweep … over the years guys have done that to Rash and we saw Hobart play really well against him,” Head said yesterday.

“He’s all class, he hasn’t had too many bad games for us over the years. “He is always working on different things, he will be prepared for that game plan, a lot of guys take that route, so

I’m sure he will be fine.”

The Thunder’s in-form opener Alex Hales confirmed Rashid could expect a similar sweeping approach from the Sydneysiders.

“The good thing about our batting is we have got players who play all different shots,” Hale said.

“We have got good sweepers, people who hit down the ground, and I think everyone is going to have their individual plans.

“He’s obviously a world-class bowler. They’ve got a decent bowling attack allround so it’s not just him we have to be wary of.”

The winner of tonight’s game will play the loser of last night’s final between Melbourne Stars and Sydney Sixers.