IPL 2018: Muttiah Muralitharan Tells Me to Remain Cool - Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan is just 19 years of age and has already hit the cricketing wave. The spinner has 13 wickets to his name and leads the spin department of the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise in this season of Indian Premier League (IPL).

The Orange army are currently at the top of the points table with eight wins from ten games.

Rashid was told by the bowling coach of the Hyderabad side – Muttiah Muralitharan that he doesn’t need to tinker too much with his bowling.

“When he saw my action and everything,” he told me.

“You are absolutely perfect, and you don’t need to change anything.” He talks to me about spot bowling – focus on where I want to pitch the ball, the spot I want to target.”

“The second thing he always tells me is that I have to remain relaxed and cool even when batsmen hit me for sixes, or even if I take five-six wickets and that I should bowl according to my plan and targets.” the Afghan spinner told ESPN Cricinfo in an interview.

How Rashid tamed the demons

Rashid has participated in the top-tier T20 leagues worldwide. He has 30 wickets in IPL. Apart from that, 15 in Bangladesh Premier League, 11 and 12 in Big Bash and the Caribbean Premier League, respectively.

The spinner was taken for plenty by Kings XI Punjab opener, Chris Gayle. He shares a healthy rivalry with Gayle.

He was once again taken to the cleaners in the next game, this time by another southpaw – Suresh Raina. To his credit, Rashid made a strong come back.

“I went and spoke to the coaches, and I watched my videos with the analyst after those two matches. They said that the only problem was that I had bowled too full and the batsmen had connected the shots well. So I was advised that if I bowled back of a length, batsmen would find it hard to attack me.”

“So I did some spot bowling after that, and when I came to the Mumbai nets for the next match, my plan was to bowl on a good length” he explained.