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Rashid Khan has been an underrated batter despite his impressive strike rate of 154.55. In Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 opener at Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, Ahmebdad, Rashid played a match-winning cameo that helped release pressure off a struggling Rahul Tewatia. After the three-ball 10 that included one four and a six in the penultimate over, former Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach who worked with Afghan cricketer for years said that he received suggestions to promote him up the order.
“It is interesting because over the years, I've quite often had people say, 'why does he bat at 7?' This was when he was at Sunrisers. 'Why don't you bat him earlier?' You had a few on social media saying he should be batting at 3!” Moody recalled while talking to ESPNCricinfo.
“The reality is, he is at his best when he's in that situation where he is facing 10 or less balls. That's when he's at his greatest, that's when he is a great threat. If he comes in the 10th over, that would be a totally different situation for him to unpack. He's very dangerous from the 17th over onwards,” Moody further said.
Rashid walked out to bat in the penultimate over after Vijay Shankar lost his wicket to Rajvardhan Hangargekar. He got off the mark with a six over deep mid-wicket off Deepak Chahar's bowling. He followed it up with a four over short third fielder. He could not get his bat on the last delivery of 19th over but made the equation easy for last over. Chahar had been economical before the 19th over conceding just 14 runs.
GT needed eight runs to win in the final over and Tewatia hit impact player Tushar Deshpande for a six and a four to seal the run chase.
Earlier, the Afghan leg-spinner took the wickets of England all-rounders Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes. He conceded just 26 runs from his quota of four overs.
“So happy to get this crucial Man of the Match. Will give me a lot of the energy for the rest of the competition. I try to do my best in all three formats, and give it all in the practice sessions. The plan is hard to bowl to lefties, but the idea was to keep it tight and I knew in my mind that if I keep it simple and get two wickets, we will be back in the game. I knew if I kept it simple we will get the results,” Rashid said in the post-match presentation.
He credited his practice sessions for the execution of big shots in crunch situations as he said, “It is all thanks to the time we spend in the nets, and the confidence given to me by the coaching staff and captain Hardik. I've been batting a lot and the results are there to see.”
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