Rashid Khan- Did Afghanistan’s trump-card come to the party on his maiden day in Whites?

The attributes of a bird lie in wafting its wings, it’s a splendour seeing them pervading the skies with its panache. The freedom telecasted by them transcends every other environmental spectacle. But what if their potency is fizzled out or neutralized? Do they pose the same threat? What if they are confined inside a cage and restricted from wielding their magic?.

Rashid Khan’s career has only witnessed an upward trend and he, hardly, has been put under the pump. He tested out batsmen with his artfulness, the batters had no clue. On the contrary, Rashid, rarely, had to pain through a stern examination. The tweaker flew with all its might, made limited-overs cricket his very own. Never did he know that a Birdcage by the name of ‘Test Cricket’ is awaiting him.

Pre-lunch session

The conditions in Afghanistan’s opening Test versus India at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore favoured more the seamers than the spinners. However, on account of being their strike-bowler, the visitors handed their premier bowler the cherry in the 14th over, which wasn’t a bolt from the blue.

(1,4,0,4,4,0)- Rashid’s first over

The newness of the leather ensured that the ball hardly gripped the deck.

Ball 2: Full Bunger on the pads, Shikhar Dhawan was never going to miss out on that opportunity. He creamed the ball to the mid-on boundary.

Ball 4: Half-tracker, Dhawan found the mid-wicket fence with utter disparagement.

Ball 5: Another full toss on the legs, gleefully accepted by the left-hander, dispatched it to mid-wicket, acknowledged the audience for completing a fifty; Rashid walked away, perplexed, somewhat rattled.

The wrong’uns didn’t spit venom, they were dealt with sheer ease. The teenager imparted revs on the ball with everything he had, the pitch didn’t respond. The batsmen smiled, they didn’t have the task to smother the turn. The boundaries flowed, so did Rashid’s despair.

Over 19th and his 4th

Ball 3: A ripper of a googly, looked from the way the bowler released it; the track stayed quiet, Dhawan didn’t- he rocked on to the back foot, slashed through covers for a four.

Ball 4: Dhawan danced down, deposited him over the sight-screen. ‘How dare you? No one does that to me,’ Rashid in his mind thought. Not to forget that they are IPL teammates, and hence, the dominance wasn’t surprising.

51 runs from 7 overs (economy 7.29), Rashid’s spell in the session, gets a taste of the format. Moreover, Rashid vs Dhawan (43 runs from 29 balls- overall).

Post lunch and pre-rain session

The clouds loomed large ever since the morning, the bright sunlight was a breather, not anymore in the afternoon. The atmosphere turned forlorn, so did Rashid’s bowling figures. Runs leaked off him. Vijay notched a half-century of his bowling as well. The 19-year-old dished out his stock-ball way too many times, it wasn’t a ‘stock-ball’ anymore, over dependence on the delivery showed.

His numbers went for a toss, his variations were defused, most importantly, his temperament was juddered by the ‘infrequent’ action, he was treated with. He came to patrol the mid-wicket boundary and rarely responded to the roars he conjured from the audience as compared to the burly Mohammad Shahzad who entertained the crowd with his antics. Rashid’s mental-state was understandable.

The rain arrived at around 1:40 in the afternoon, even the heavens couldn’t bear the harsh treatment meted out to the Young Turk. More than the downpour, it was a break for the spinner, maybe the raindrops were required to calm his nerves down. Nevertheless, there was one relieving news for Rashid- his SRH teammate (Dhawan) was shown the door by Yamin Ahmadzai.

44 from 8 overs in the session (85 runs from 12 overs; economy 7.08)

The Final session

The break panned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Afghan tweaker. Meanwhile, from a test of ‘skills’, it gradually shaped into ‘test of character’ for him. In the first two sessions, the bird tried its heart out to extricate himself from the four-square box, rather hell, but in vain. Reality imposed itself. The erstwhile moments of joy were fleeting, he realized, every day poses a new hurdle, he realized.

Just when it was speculated that Rashid would end the day as one of his most second-rated days, he flapped his wings and pulled himself out of jail. Under the floodlights, he somewhat got back the touch he is renowned for. Several of his deliveries whisked past the willow, leaving the batsmen bemused. In the 18th and 23rd over, he bowled two maidens, something which was a far cry in the first two sessions.

Batsmen became cautious, Rashid Khan looked that much more menacing, the batters hung their bats out with double-thoughts. The bowler’s relentless efforts eventually paid off when he trapped Ajinkya Rahane plumb in front of the stumps after toiling for 21 overs.

The youngster erupted, more in relief than in jubilation, the bird eventually made its way out of the enclosure. He could’ve had another one had Nabi clung on to Cheteshwar Pujara’s catch in the slips. Now the question surrounds around whether Rashid Khan would be able to replicate his last session’s form on Day 2 or not. Only time will reveal.

Meanwhile, 35 runs from 14 overs in the session (26 overs 120 runs; economy 4.61)

WELCOME TO TEST CRICKET, RASHID KHAN ARMAN.