Rashid Khan: 'Mayank Markande is wonderful to watch'

The Afghanistan leg-break bowler bowled one of the most frugal spells in T20 cricket and IPL and won the man of the match award.

Rashid Khan was at his incisive best against Mumbai Indians, whose batsmen could score only 13 runs off him.

Rashid Khan, the leg-spinner from Sunrisers Hyderabad, is on a dual mission. Not just snaring at the batsmen with his craft but also indulging in a bit of 'intimidating' to raise the bar and in the process help the team's cause. 

For, against Mumbai Indians, the dimunitive, 19-year-old Rashid taking on the giant Kieron Pollard after the latter missed out a big shot was a reminder of this new-found aggressive trait.

Read: Hooda takes SRH home in nail-biter

"Well, I have done this in the Big Bash too against him. Good fun out there in the centre. It is just to engage myself in a battle with a difference and put in that extra effort," says the Afghan cricketer after his man of the match performance against Mumbai the previous night." 

"These things make the game more entertaining. The plan was to go against Pollard aggressively and see him make mistakes. His wicket was very crucial then for he can could have taken the game away from us with his batting," Rashid said. 

Paying rich compliments to his Mumbai counterpart and 20-year-old Mayank Markande, who returned with a four-wicket haul for a lost cause, Rashid said: "He is wonderful to watch. I saw him in the first game of this IPL. He was amazing, trying to defend such a low total which is always difficult. He did really well." 

"If we leg-spinners get the line and length right, we can bowl against anyone in any conditions," signed off the star performer for Sunrisers.

Reflecting on SRH bowling, Rashid feels that they have a very good attack. "I don't think the pitch against Mumbai was different from what we played against Rajasthan in the first game. It was supportive to both batsmen and bowlers," he said. 

"It all depends on the bowlers. If they are good enough to bowl good deliveries, they can still take wickets," he added. 

"Yes, we should have finished the game as we did against Rajasthan. But these things happen sometimes when you lose quick wickets. Thank God, we won the match and hopefully learn from the mistakes and not repeat them in the coming games," Rashid said.