Rashid Khan, who had been in news prior to the one-off Test against India for his series of match-winning spells, was pushed to ground in a single day of Test cricket. Afghanistan, who are playing his maiden Test, were put to bowl first after Indian skipper Ajinkya Rahane won the toss in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Rashid conceded 13 runs off his first over. Following that, he was counterattacked by his Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) teammate Shikhar Dhawan in the first session of the opening day of the one-off Test.
Towards the end of the first day, on Thursday, with Rahane’s wicket, Rashid boosted his confidence. But, he received the same treatment even the next day when Hardik Pandya targeted him.
Although Afghanistan managed to restrict India under 500 runs, despite the good start the hosts had, Rashid went into the book of unwanted record. Bowling 34.5 overs, Rashid gave away 154 runs and thereby became the most expensive bowler in an innings in a team’s inaugural Test.
Rashid’s debut and the following three years in limited-overs cricket have been nothing close to this nightmare-like Test debut. Even now, there are several batsmen in the shorter formats who struggle to read Rashid’s deliveries.
The spin machine, Rashid, beat the likes of Scotland Captain Kyle Coezter, Ireland’s captain William Porterfield and Afghanistan teammate Mohammad Shahzad to win the ICC Award of Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Year for the 2017 season. The 19-year-old clinched 60 wickets in 2017 alone – a record for an Associate player in a calendar year.
Dhawan, Rashid’s SRH teammate suggested that he was able to play the former freely because of their net sessions in the past two years during the IPL. “One thing (advantage) is that I have faced him (Rashid) in the nets for the past two years as we play for the same IPL team. I am used to his bowling and that was an advantage for sure. It helped,” Dhawan said at the press conference on Thursday.
