Rashid Khan vs Ben Duckett: Will Afghan's Spin King Dominate England's Destructive Opener?

Ben Duckett and Rashid Khan [Source: @RashidKhanRK19/X.com]

Afghanistan and England, both have faced a defeat in their opening campaigns in the Champions Trophy. Their qualification scenarios hang in the balance now with both aiming to win their second game of the tournament against each other. 

While England has been a decent lot with the bat, Afghanistan's performance has been rather underwhelming from both their bat and ball departments. However, Rashid Khan, the man who brought fame to the country will have something to serve in the upcoming clash on February 26 at Gaddafi Stadium.

With Ben Duckett in scintillating form with his monstrous yet patient knocks, it will be an interesting battle between the mystery spinner vs the in-form opener.

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Why Will Ben Duckett Be Important For England?

• Ben Duckett started his ravishing form since India ODIs and hasn't stopped since then. Though England has failed to capitalise on most of these opportunities created by Duckett, he is a solid starter for his team.
• Ben Duckett as an opener in the ODI boasts an average of 66.78, indicating his reliability. With a strike rate of 113.83, he can also start explosively building the initial runs.
• With his recent form where he notched up 165 runs against Australia and his solid ODI powerplay over stats standing at 101.0 strike rate and 50.3 average, Ben Duckett will be vital in building the foundation for England's innings.

Ben Duckett vs Rashid Khan

Table - Ben Duckett vs Rashid Khan

Duckett hasn't faced Rashid Khan in the ODI format yet. However, in 5 T20 matches, Rashid Khan has managed to dismiss Duckett 2 times in 25 deliveries. Here, Duckett has the upper hand as his success rate against Rashid is 60%. 

Notably, Duckett has managed to bag 32 runs with only 8 dots from the mystery. spinner's deliveries. Hence, Duckett's dot ball percentage counts as 32%. Therefore, it can be inferred that the batter might have an upper hand over the Afghan threat.

Will Duckett Thrash Rashid Khan?

Duckett's records against leg-spinners have been tight. With 4 dismissals in 7 matches, Duckett has a dismissal rate of 57.14%. However, he also boasts a strike rate of 118.2 against them at the same time, which reflects his intent while batting.

Table - Ben Duckett vs Leg-Spinners in ODIs

Hence, Duckett with his unorthodox approach against the spinners can emerge victorious against Rashid. Rashid Khan, however, has a better success rate against the southpaws. 

Table - Rashid Khan vs Left-Hand Batters in ODIs 

With 54 dismissals in 88 matches, Khan boasts a dismissal rate of 61.36% against left-hand batters. He also has a low economy rate of 4.31 against the southpaws which indicates that he might restrict Duckett's opening onslaught in the 50-over match.

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