'Leading a team in IPL is different experience' - Rashid Khan recalls his IPL captaincy debut during 2022 edition

Rashid Khan is in sensational form in IPL 2023 as he’s the joint-leading wicket-taker of the season with 23 wickets to his name. The Afghanistan cricketer also played a pivotal role in Gujarat Titans' (GT) triumphant 2022 season. Recently, the wrist spinner recalled the moment when he led Gujarat in Hardik Pandya’s absence during match 29 of the 2022 season.

The 24-year-old revealed that it was a dream come true moment for him to lead an IPL side that too during the holy month of Ramadan. Rashid led Gujarat against the defending champions CSK and put up a stellar performance with the bat to help his side win.

“That was a special match as it was my first match as captain in IPL, and that too during Ramadan. I woke up at 3 am for sehri. I got a message from Ashish Nehra, saying 'Khan sahab get ready. Hardik might not play as he is not well. There was excitement and pressure. It was a dream," Rashid said on the Gujarat Titans podcast.

The Afghanistan star further said that he was not able to sleep a day ahead of the match as everything was flashing before his eyes. He further said that he had captained Afghanistan before but IPL is a different experience.

“I'm from Afghanistan and tomorrow I will be leading a team in India in IPL. The moment I wanted to sleep, everything was coming in front of my eyes. I was thinking what I will say at the toss, what is the mindset going to be like. I had led Afghanistan in the past but leading a team in the IPL is a different experience," he added.

Coming back to the match, batting first CSK posted a total of 169/5 courtesy of Ruturaj Gaikwad’s knock of 73 off 48 balls. In reply, GT were 87/5 at 12.4 overs when Rashid (40 off 21) and David Miller (94* off 51) got involved in a 70-run stand off 37 balls to help GT chase down the score in 19.5 overs and win by three wickets.

In the ongoing IPL 2023 as well, Rashid captained GT during their third game against Kolkata Knight Riders in Ahmedabad. The wrist-spinner ended up picking a hat trick during the game and finished with figures of 3/37 in four overs. However, Rinku Singh (48* off 21) overshadowed him by smashing five consecutive sixes against Yash Dayal in the last over to help KKR register an improbable win.