IPL 2018: Rashid Khan believes KL Rahul’s wicket was special

The Sunrisers Hyderabad is a very different T20 side. While most of the teams stack their lineups with power hitters and flashy batsmen, this franchise has clearly shown the world that T20 is not all about scoring big runs and hitting glamorous shots. They have brought about a balance between bat and bowl and proved that good bowlers can win you matches and defend very low targets.

Rashid Khan is one of the best-limited overs bowlers in the world. He has the knack of picking wickets at regular intervals and bowling very economical spells. However, in the game against KXIP and CSK, Rashid Khan was taken to all parts of the ground and had a torrid time. Good players bounce back and so did Rashid Khan.

The leggie was the chief architect of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s brilliance with the ball against Kings XI Punjab in the reverse fixture which saw them defend a low total for the second consecutive time this season. He also revealed in the post-match presentation that picking Rahul’s wicket was extremely special for him as he is one of his favourite players.

“Getting KL’s wicket was great, he’s a class player, one of my favourites, the plan was to bowl wicket-to-wicket, mix up my lengths. It gives a lot of confidence defending small totals, with our bowling – we can defend any total, the guys did a wonderful job in the last two games. The fielding was excellent, but we need more runs from the batsmen.” said Rashid Khan in the post-match presentation.

Another low score defended

SRH found it very difficult to get going against the KXIP bowlers who made merry in the first innings. Ankit Rajpoot was the star for KXIP who became the first uncapped player to pick five wickets in an IPL match. Despite poor fielding, KXIP restricted SRH to 132 runs and skipper Ravichandran Ashwin would surely have been proud of his bowlers. But SRH had other plans as Rashid along with Shakib, Thampi and Sandeep Sharma bowled very good lengths and ensured another SRH victory.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad next face Rajasthan Royals on Sunday, April 29. They need their batsmen to start firing as it may not be possible to defend low scores all the time.

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