You don’t learn until you get hit, says Rashid
MUMBAI: Compared to the last two games, I bowled a little bit fuller in the last two games which didn’t help me and I was punished.
The only thing today was to bowl in a goodlength area RASHID KHAN, SRH spinner
In his last two Indian Premier League games, Rashid Khan had been taken to the cleaners, first by the Kings XI Punjab batsmen and then the Chennai Super Kings. It had raised questions whether the teams were starting to plan better to counter his fastish leg-spin and googly. Tuesday’s game against Mumbai Indians was going to be that test.
As it turned out, Rahsid has come out with flying colours, winning the man of the match with a performance of 4-1-11-2. His two scalps included Krunal Pandya and Keiron Pollard, to tighten the screws on Mumbai Indians, taking Sunrisers Hyderabad to a 31-run win.
Describing his comeback from the mauling at the hands of Chris Gayle, Rashid said: “Till you don’t get hit, you don’t learn. It happens, it’s a part of the game, I’m learning lot of things from it after giving 55 and 48 runs in the last two games.
“It wasn’t expected from me but for my future, it was good for me because I learnt from that. What I should have done that time, that’s what coaches told me…everyone, especially Muttiah Murali sair, Tom Moody and VVS Laxman. We had a good chat before this game and the only thing was to be positive. Some bad days happen in a player’s career and you learn from that, try not to repeat from that. That’s what I was doing today, got the basics right and you can see the result.”
The Wankhede Stadium wicket also favoured the spinners, making it difficult to understand whether his success was due to the playing surface or a change in strategy. Asked to share his specific plan, Rashid said: “Compared to the last two games, I bowled a little bit fuller in the last two games which didn’t help me and I was punished. The only thing today was to bowl in a good-length area as much as possible and that’s what helped me bowl with good figures. The only thing was line and length, that’s what I have worked on and it’s a positive.”
As much credit goes to the captain Kane Williamson. He has been a revelation in the IPL and would be proud of defending a meagre total of 118.
“I think he’s a great fighter. He kept the team together while defending 120 and was like, “be positive and if we didn’t do it, how can they do it.”
“He kept everyone’s morale positive and everyone was believing that we just need to be positive and just do our 100 per cent in fielding and bowling. Whatever the result is, just do 100 per cent and don’t let yourself down. It’s still a good total on this wicket. So I think he’s amazing and he’s a wonderful leader, he did it for NZ as well and for the first time here in IPL, the way he did it was unbelievable. And how he batted was amazing.”