Unique Rashid will have big impact on IPL: Moody
“Unique” Afghan leg spinner Rashid Khan will have a major impact on this year’s Indian Premier League for the Hyderabad franchise, coach Tom Moody has predicted.
Rashid has made rapid strides since making his international debut in October 2015 as a 17-year-old, in February becoming the youngest to top the International Cricket Council’s rankings for bowlers in the Twenty20 and 50-overs format.
Sunrisers Hyderabad splurged R4 crore ($609,524) at last year’s auction to land the unheralded leg-spinner from Afghanistan, where cricket is highly popular but sporting facilities are pitifully inadequate after decades of war.
He saw an intense bidding war in this year’s auction before Hyderabad retained him with their right-to-match option for a whopping 90 million rupees ($1.37 million), more than double what they paid for his services a year earlier. “Rashid is a pretty unique cricketer and he’s had a lot of success with us last year,” Moody, 52, told Reuters. “He’s gone from strength to strength in the various tournaments that he has played around the world and also when he’s representing his country.” It was only in 2013 that Afghanistan, mostly made up of players who picked up the game in refugee camps in neighbouring Pakistan, became an Associate Member. They are currently a Full Member, scheduled to play their maiden test match against India in June, and also won the qualifying tournament for the 50-over World Cup in England and Wales next year.
Rashid has played a major role in Afghanistan’s ascent, and last month become the fastest to take 100 wickets in ODIs.