When Afghanistan squared off against Bangladesh in the 3 match T20 series, very strangely, the Afghans started off as favourites. To be honest, I was surprised by the approach of the Bangladesh team management, in the press conferences, leading up to the series. Shakib himself showed wariness about the opposition, in the press meets, making it seem, as if they were playing against a well experienced test playing nation. That to me was quite baffling, because, Bangladesh has been having a dream run in international cricket, for the past few years, be it qualifying for 2015 WC quarterfinals, be it finishing as Asia Cup Runners up 2016, be it playing the semifinals of Champions Trophy 2017 or be it almost winning the Nidahas Trophy 2018. For a side like Bangladesh, which has been experiencing their best phase in international cricket of late, it was vastly disappointing that they went under-confident, into a bilateral series, specially against an Afghan side, which is yet to make their debut in the longest format of the game.
But that is exactly what happened. And as they so often say in cricket matches, Bangladesh lost half the series, even before they took the cricket field. The Afghans, on the other hand, buoyed by the confidence of the most-sought-after players of Franchise T20 leagues, took full advantage of a diffident Bangladesh side, to romp home a 3-0 win.
Brief Summary of Series
The Afghans follow a very standard recipe of success, specially when it comes to their batting in the shorter formats of the game. The burly Afghan wicketkeeper from Nangarhar, Shahzad, will provide them with a blistering start, in the powerplay, hitting a quick 30/40 at a good strike rate. Then the good start will be consolidated by the captain, Asghar Stanikzai, who will keep the scoreboard ticking, through the middle overs, playing the role of an accumulator. Then, the experienced Afghan campaigner, Samiullah Shenwari, will step into the scene and up the ante from one end, while the superstar T20 all-rounder Nabi, will finish the innings off with a few slogs, towards the end. The rest of the batting line up, revolves around these 4 main Afghan players.
This series was no different. The first T20 saw, the Afghans registering an above par score of 167 batting first on a slightly sticky Dehradun wicket courtesy a decent start from Shahzad (40) followed by cameos from Stanikzai (25), Shenwari (36) & Shafiq (24). In the chase, Bangladesh looked well on course, at 64/2, after the first 8 overs. However, their chase got derailed followed by a twin wicket over from the teen aged wizard, Rashid Khan. Bangladesh innings lost steam, as they managed only 42 from the last 9 overs, losing 7 wickets, to succumb to a heavy defeat margin of 45 runs.
In the second match of the series, Afghanistan bowled first, a scheme they are not really comfortable with. The Afghans, are more comfortable, defending the target with their triple turbonators, (Rashid, Nabi & Mujeeb), rather than chasing it down. However, in this match, economical spells from Mujeeb ( 0-15), followed by a spin choke applied by the seasoned Nabi (2-19) & the teenager Rashid (4-12), Bangladesh could only manage a paltry (134-8) at the end of 20 overs. Afghanistan cruised through to the target with one over to spare (135/4), thanks to the accumulator Shenwari (49) & the finisher Nabi (31*).
The third match of the series, though a dead rubber, was a cliffhanger of a match by its own rights. Afghanistan batted first, but could only manage an average 145-6 on a decent Dehradun wicket. All the top order batsmen, Shahzad (26), Stanikzai (27), Shenwari (33*) got starts, but was unable to convert them to a decent innings of 50/60, and thus, the Afghans looked around 15-20 short of a par total. But, as always the Afghans defended well, and inspite of inspiring knocks from Mushfiqur & Mahmudullah, Bangladesh, as they have so often done in the past, failed to finish the game, as the Afghans just edged past their oppositions by a solitary run.
Rashid Khan- The Zlatan of World Cricket
There is a reason, why I did not talk much about Rashid Khan, in the first half of the blog- because I wanted to dedicate the entire second half of my analysis to this teenage sensation from Afghanistan. It can be safely said that in this 3 match T20 series, Rashid Khan was the difference between victory & defeat for his team. Yes, there were notable contributions from Shahzad, Samiullah, Stanikzai, Nabi & Mujeeb, but had there been no Rashid, Afghanistan would not have been able to whitewash the Bangla Tigers. I feel so much of a connection between Zlatan & Rashid. Both of them hail from countries, which are not big achievers in the game of football or cricket respectively; both of them claimed their way to fame by playing franchise leagues round the world and both of them carry their team, on their shoulders, at times alone. Yes, Rashid is yet to to have that narcissistic personality of Zlatan (Zlatan Fans, forgive me here), but who knows, with age, this leg-spinner from Afghanistan, may just be slipping into that kind of am appearance.
Decoding Rashid's Consistent Success
Rashid, has been setting global T20 leagues on fire, since 2017, and has been winning matches, single-handedly, for his respective franchise, in IPL, BBL and other leagues. He has been consistently foxing international batsmen of the class of Dhoni, Kohli, De Villiers, Finch & Gayle with his variations and it seems, batsmen are yet to come up with a set plan against him. Now, let us try to analyse, what makes Rashid Khan successful, at the topmost level, against such famed batsmen. It is important to understand that unlike Sunil Narine, Rashid Khan has no mystery delivery. He bowls the three standard variations of a leg spinner- the leg spin, the googly & the flipper. But, the catch is, a standard leg spinner bowls the leg spinning ball, from the front of the hand and the googly from the back of the hand. So, the batsmen, who are good players of spin, pick the ball (whether its leg spin or googly), from the bowler's hand and plays it accordingly. Rashid, bowls both the leg spinner & the googly from the back of the hand. This makes it next to impossible for batsmen, to differentiate between the leg spin and the googly, from the hand. With the quick arm action of Rashid Khan, if as a batsman, you are not picking him, off the hand, and waiting to read him off the pitch , you are a dead duck already and thus, inspite of so much scrutiny & analysis Rashid Khan is still running through oppositions with relative ease.
Is Rashid Khan a legend in the making?
While the entire coterie of cricket fans, are losing their minds over this spin necromancer, I prefer to see things from rational ground. I would say, its too early to comment on whether he is a legend in the making. I have my reasons for this conservative line of thought- let me illustrate, where I am coming from.
If you look at great legendary spinners, in the history of cricket, beginning from Mushtaq Ahmed, BS Chandrasekhar, Bishen Bedi, to the likes of Muralitharan, Warne, Kumble or Saqlain Mushtaq, you will always find that after their initial few years in international cricket were over, quality batsmen always picked their variations. Like, by the time Murali had completed 6-7 years in international cricket, the batsmen picked Murali's Doosra & Off Spin from the hand. Still Murali continued to pick truckloads of wickets owing to deception in flight, variation of pace of the delivery and bowling tight line & length as well as reading the psyche of the batsmen. Same with Shane Warne. He never picked up wickets because batsmen were in confusion regarding whether he is bowling a googly or a leg spinner. He picked up wickets owing to his flight, drift and immense control over the ball, inspite of being a wrist spinner. If readers correctly remember, the 'ball of the century', Mike Gating picked Warne from the hand, that the ball is a standard leg spinning ball. It was the steep angle of the turn, that Gating failed to predict.
The point, I am trying to establish, through all these explanations, is pretty simple. Once, as a spinner, you have spent a decent period (4-5 years) in international cricket, batsmen will surely find a way to read your variations, no matter how good you are. This has happened with the legends of the game and this will happen to Rashid Khan as well. So, his main weapon i.e. the similarity between his leg spin & googly, will become ineffective, in a matter of next 4-5 years. It will be important to see, how Rashid Khan responds to that; specially because presently, Rashid rarely flights the ball, and hence almost never picks up wickets by deceiving the batsmen, in the air.
But, Rashid Khan, need not look far, for inspiration. Flight & deception in air has not been the only way, legendary spinners picked up wickets. Among the flight & the guile & the drift of the Mushtaq Ahmeds, the Bishen Bedis, the Warnes, there was this one 19 year old kid, with nerd glasses, who debuted in 1990 against England at Old Trafford and ripped apart oppositions for the next 18 years, with his non flighted accurate 'spin' bowling, to pick up 619 Test wickets, throughout his illustrious career. Yes! I am talking about the veteran magician with the ball, Anil Kumble. Rashid's bowling is much similar to Kumble's. But Kumble's secret to success was, his unerring accuracy with his line & length, along with variations in pace. These were features, which were sustainable enough to last him an entire career of 18 years, with utmost consistency. Whether Rashid Khan will be able to bring this aspect of his game to the fore, once the batsmen start reading him, is something that I will be eagerly waiting to see, as a cricket fan. That being said, even if Rashid achieves half of what Kumble has achieved in his career, Rashid will consider himself, the best bowler, of his generation.
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