Rashid Khan, a leg-spinner for the Gujarat Titans (GT), said that he often jokes with fellow Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad during games in the current Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 to make the young player feel at ease.
Ahmad, who is 18 years old and spins the ball with his left hand, played his first IPL game for GT in 2023. He has made an immediate impact, taking 13 wickets in 10 matches with an average of 22.15 and an economy rate of 7.96.
The young player got rid of Faf du Plessis (28) and Mahipal Lomror (1), giving him a final score of 2/39. On Sunday, May 21, 2023, in the last league game of the IPL 2023, GT beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by six wickets.
Rashid talked about the kinds of talks he has with Ahmad at a press conference after the game. He said:
“Not much; during overs, we mostly joke around. To be honest, all I’m trying to do is keep him as calm as possible and not ask him to do too much. I’m just trying to make things easy for him. He is very young in the IPL, and his career has just begun. When I talk to him during the overs, I try to keep things as funny as possible.
“We talk about the game even when we’re not on the field, but we try to get the basics right.” Rashid added, “Most of the time, we just have fun. We try to talk about something in Pashto, his own language, to make sure he’s happy and has a clear head.”
Rashid has had a great IPL 2023 season. He has taken 24 wickets in 14 games, with an average of 18.25 and an economy rate of 7.82.
Rashid Khan: “In T20, I feel like every dot ball is a wicket.”
In IPL 2023, the “Impact Player” rule has made it harder for spinners because most teams use it to extend their batting.
Rashid agreed that it was a task and said that because things had changed, a dot ball was now as valuable as a wicket in T20s.
The spin master explained:
“Bowling in the middle overs of T20 games is hard these days, especially in this IPL with the Impact Player rule. My plan is to throw strikes and keep throwing my best balls. In T20, it seems like every dot ball is a wicket.”
The 24-year-old also praised his partner Shubman Gill and RCB batter Virat Kohli for scoring great centuries in Sunday’s match.
Rashid said this:
“I am so lucky to see two beautiful hundreds today [Sunday]. The way both Virat Bhai and Shubman played was amazing. It was fun to see Shubman’s hundred. He has been working very hard.
“He believes he can turn his 50s and 60s into 100s, so since last year he has been a very steady player for us. It was a great game, and I’m so glad for him.”
Gill’s hundred was better than Kohli’s, and GT reached their goal of 198 in 19.1 overs.
