Rashid Khan- The bowling sensation in IPL 2018
Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan cricketer made his IPL debut in 2017 Indian Premier League for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He finished the tournament by becoming the sixth-highest wicket-taker and took 17 wickets from 14 matches. In January 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named him as the Associate Cricketer of the Year. This year in February, he became the youngest player to top the ICC Player Rankings for bowlers in ODIs. Along with this, he also topped the ICC Player Rankings for bowlers in T20Is.
During the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, he captained Afghanistan for the first time in an ODI match. And he became the youngest player to captain an international side. Rashid Khan became the youngest bowler to take fastest 100 wickets in ODIs during the final of Cricket World Cup Qualifier against the West Indies. He accomplished this record by playing in just 44 matches to take his 100th dismissal and broke the previous record of 52 games, set by Mitchell Starc.
In IPL auction 2018, Sunrisers Hyderabad used right to match to retain Rashid Khan when he was sold to Kings XI Punjab at a price of nine crores. He has so far taken nine wickets in just seven IPL matches and ranked behind Trent Boult and Mayank Markande who have 11 and ten wickets respectively. In a Twenty20 format that is mainly dominated by hard-hitting batsmen, Rashid Khan has bowled 72 dot balls in 28 overs with an economy of 7.17.
Former Australian batsman Dean Jones has also praised Afghanistan's Rashid Khan by saying that he is currently the best leg-spinner in the world and can spin the balls both ways.