World Cup 2023: Rashid's chance to rediscover his ODI game

There’s a lot of Muttiah Muralitharan about Rashid Khan. Like the Sri Lankan legend, the Afghan leg-spinner is a consummate wicket-taker and match-winner, befuddling batters with his skill and variations. He is an equally electric fielder, quick to the ball, and plays the most outrageously unorthodox strokes, though Rashid is more accomplished with the willow and has produced numerous match-winning knocks, especially in T20 cricket. Most notably, he also plays his cricket with a ready smile, indicating an immense enjoyment of the heat of a battle and viewing the sport as fun, not merely a job like so many others do.

Unlike Murali, however, Rashid doesn’t have the support of his batting group. Murali played alongside several fine batters of all time – Aravinda de Silva, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Sanath Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan. There isn’t one Afghan batter even halfway close to that league, which lends an entirely different dimension to his wicket-taking abilities and to the pressure that he carries every time he is tossed the ball.

Rashid has excellent numbers in all international formats – 34 wickets in five Tests (strike-rate 45.1), 172 wickets in 95 ODIs (28.1) and 130 wickets in 82 T20Is (14.4). Each of his strike-rates is numerically significantly superior to Murali’s, though it can’t be overlooked that the latter figured in 133 Tests and 350 ODIs. Not for the first time, it will be up to Rashid that Afghanistan will look as they seek to make a statement in only their third 50-over World Cup.

Afghanistan have won only one of 16 previous games at World Cups – by one wicket against Scotland in Dunedin in 2015. Rashid hadn’t yet made his debut – that would come eight months later – but within months of donning his country’s colours for the first time, he became the team’s most feared bowler, a proven wicket-taker with a sense of occasion and an unmistakable passion for theatre.

But impressive as his ODI returns are, it must be stressed that 102 of his wickets have come in 47 matches against Ireland and Zimbabwe combined. And that those two teams aren’t playing in this World Cup.

Rashid has hardly played against the bigger nations – indeed, Afghanistan and India have only squared off in three ODIs previously. He has faced India and New Zealand twice each, and Australia, South Africa and England just once apiece. He therefore has not had too much experience of having to earn his wickets against experienced opponents in the 50-over game. Batters have embraced a conservative, if not circumspect, mien against Rashid and targeted the other bowlers, who are no slouches but definitely not in the leggie’s class. It’s decidedly easier to pick up wickets for a quality performer like Rashid when batters have to attack him, in T20 cricket, than when there is a little less pressure to score freely, as is the case in the 50-over format.

Rashid’s challenge over the next six weeks, when he runs into some of the finest batters of this era, will be to tailor his bowling to wicket-taking mode. Armed with the knowledge that they will eschew risks and play percentage cricket for the most part, he must improvise and adapt if Afghanistan are to remain competitive. It’s a new challenge for the young man – it’s easy to forget that he is still only 25 – but one that he will approach with characteristic chutzpah, starting with Wednesday’s showdown against India at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the national capital.

Hashmatullah Shahidi, his captain, has few doubts about Rashid’s ability to rise to the occasion. “Rashid is the best bowler in ODIs and T20s, so whatever the opposition is doing, we don’t care about that – like how they play, how they want to play Rashid. For us, the important thing is how he has planned against the opposition. He knows how to bowl to every team,” Shahidi noted. “He has the quality and whenever it’s his day, he can do anything against any opposition. We are hopeful that he delivers in tomorrow’s game.”

Afghanistan’s spin attack isn’t just about Rashid; Mujeeb ur Rehman, former captain Mohammad Nabi and Noor Ahmad are all very, very good, but the little man is the fulcrum around which the team revolves. A former skipper himself, he is the one who sets the tone, he is the undisputed leader of the pack. Wednesday is as good a time as any to drive home that truism.