Game plan: How can Sri Lanka play Rashid Khan?
Rashid will hold the key for the Afghans [PC: Twitter]
The 15th edition of the Asia Cup is all set to begin from today (August 27). The opening match is between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
As far as Afghanistan is concerned, they will be highly dependent on Rashid Khan to leave an impact on this match. On the other hand it will be absolutely important for Sri Lanka to handle Rashid successfully in order to have a good opening to the tournament.
First of all what kind of impact can we expect Rashid to have on this pitch.
Records of pacers and spinners at Dubai International Cricket Stadium from 2019.
Spinners (since 2019 at the Venue)
Pacers (since 2019 at the Venue)
So, as we see from the records of the last three years it is clear that Spinners will have a greater impact on the match. Thus, Rashid becomes that much more important player in this match.
Let us look at Rashid Khan’s pitch map and the type of balls that he uses the most in a typical T20I match.
Rashid Khan's pitch map
So a typical Pitch map of Rashid Khan shows that he likes to bowl it full most of the time.
Let us look at his variations in the match in general.
Rashid Khan's variations in the match
So, this table shows that Rashid Khan's go to delivery is googly. He uses his leg spinners very less and whenever attacked he is looking to switch to leg spinners.
How to handle Rashid Khan?
In order to play out Rashid Khan successfully the Sri Lankan batter must watch out for the googlies. Most of the time Rashid will plan on bowling full and hence the batters must be prepared for that. If attacked or taken on they must look for Rashid bowling full, the googly and that too with pace.
 "Probuddha Bhattacharjee")
