Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], April 1 : Former Australian cricketer and Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody said on Saturday that the bowling all-rounder Rashid Khan is at his best while facing ten balls or less while batting.
Shubman Gill's knock of and Gujarat Titans batters' collective performance overshadowed Ruturaj Gaikwad's heroic knock 92(50) as Gujarat Titans stood victorious over Chennai Super Kings by 5 wickets in IPL 2023 campaign opener at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday.
Rashid Khan was the 'Player of the Match' for clinching 2/26 with the ball and playing an entertaining cameo of 10* off 3 balls that helped his side win the match.
Moody, who was involved with Sunrisers Hyderabad in different capacities from 2013-2022 and saw Rashid prosper in IPL for the franchise since his debut in 2017, pointed out that the bowler becomes a different player as a batter from the 17th over onwards.
"The reality is that he is at his best when he is facing ten or less balls. That is when he is the greatest threat. But if he is suddenly coming in the tenth over, it can be a totally different situation for him to unpack, so he is really really dangerous from the seventeenth over onwards," said Moody on ESPNCricinfo's T20 Time:Out show.
"Players like Rashid Khan are always involved in the game at the hottest point. The first moment he entered the game was in the powerplay when the game was running away from them. He bowled an over, he took a wicket. So again, critical time, put in the hotspot, he does the job."
"End of the game, into the hotspot with a different skillset with the bat in hand, not ball in hand and does what Rashid's doing more increasingly and that is finding a way to hit a six, hit a four and suddenly when it is getting a little bit tight and everyone is tense on the bench, he has quickly turned it on its head within two or three balls," concluded Moody.
Rashid was GT's most economical bowler in the match and took big wickets of Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali. He conceded only 21 runs in 25 balls.
"He [Rashid] is such a valuable player because he is a genuine matchwinner that does impact at critical times," Moody said.
In 392 T20Is, Rashid has scored 1,942 runs at an average of 12.61. He has scored one half-century in the shorter format and has a strike rate of 142.37.
Coming to the match, CSK posted 178/7 in their 20 overs after being put to bat first by GT. They were largely powered by knocks from Ruturaj Gaikwad (92 off 50 balls, with four boundaries and nine sixes) and Moeen Ali (23 off 17 balls, four boundaries and a six). Rashid (2/26), Mohammed Shami (2/29) and Alzarri Joseph (2/33) were among the pick of the bowlers for GT.
GT chased down the total with 19.2 overs. Opener Shubman Gill continued with his red-hot form, scoring 63 in 36 balls consisting of six fours and three sixes. Wriddhiman Saha (25), Sai Sudarshan (22) and Vijay Shankar (27) also made some viral contributions. They ended at 182/5.
Rajvardhan Hangargekar (3/36) was the pick of the bowlers for CSK. Tushar Deshpande and Ravindra Jadeja took a wicket each.
Brief scores: GT 182/5 in 19.2 overs (Shubman Gill 63(36), Vijay Shankar 27(21)and Hangargekar 3/36)vs CSK 178/7 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 92, Moeen Ali 23; Rashid Khan 2/26).
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