CPL 2020: Rashid Khan survives a ‘nutcracker’ scare against the St Lucia Zouks

Rashid Khan has a made a reasonable start for the Barbados Tridents in the 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPL). Having picked up four wickets from two matches, he has troubled quite a few batsmen with his guile and trajectory. But in the Tridents’ second match against the St Lucia Zouks, the Afghanistan spinner looked a tad off colour, though he ended with a couple of crucial scalps.

In his first over, he gave away only seven runs, but in the second, Mohammad Nabi laid into him. His Afghan teammate smashed him for a six followed by a four before getting out. And then in the fifth ball of the over, Andre Fletcher deposited him into the stands. Rashid leaked 17 runs in the over, gifting the match away to Daren Sammy and Co at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba.

The Young Turk also survived a major accident. In the second over of the Tridents’ run-chase, he was caught unaware. The fielder, standing nearby, threw the ball at him, but Rashid didn’t pay attention to it. He was almost hit in his private parts, something which could have been nasty. Rashid was looking down when the ball arrived and fortunately, he didn’t get injured.

Later on, Rashid saw the funnier side of the incident. Replying to the video, uploaded on CPL’s official Twitter handle, he wrote, “Tooo close (laughing out loud emoji)”

Here’s Rashid Khan’s video: –

Tooo close 😂😂

— Rashid Khan (@rashidkhan_19) August 20, 2020

Tridents go down against Zouks

As far as the match is concerned, it was marred by rain. The Tridents’ innings was halted after they managed 131 for seven in their 18.1 overs. Johnson Charles’ 35 and skipper Jason Holder’s 27 did most of the damage. Shai Hope, Ashley Nurse and Kyle Mayers also chipped in with useful scores. After a heavy spell of rain, the Zouks were set with a revised target of 47 from five overs.

The game was a competitive one until the third over when the Zouks needed 18 off 12 balls. However, Rashid’s second over turned out to be the game-changer. In the end, St Lucia won by seven wickets (DL Method) with five balks to spare. Raymon Reifer finished things off with a boundary through the cover region.