Sunrisers Hyderabad and Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan, fresh from his heroics against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday, revealed that a change in length helped him rediscover his magic touch after a couple of forgettable games.
Khan was the architect-in-chief behind Hyderabad’s stunning win at the Wankhede Stadium, finishing with miserly figures of 2/11 from his four overs to bowl out the hapless Mumbai side for 87. Hyderabad’s win was also the second-lowest target successfully defended in the history of the Indian Premier League.
Khan said that he bowled in the good length areas and did not bowl fuller, which was the case in the last two games were he conceded 55 and 48 games respectively. “I bowled a little bit fuller in the last two games which didn’t help me and I was punished. The only thing today was to bowl in a good-length area as much as possible. The only thing was line and length, that’s what I have worked on and it’s a positive,” said Khan.
What was all the more remarkable was that Hyderabad had fashioned their stunning win without the services of pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Australian Billy Stanlake, who was earlier ruled out of the tournament.
Khan said his team relied on their bowlers to earn the victory after the batsmen could register just 118 on the board: “We did not have a good a total on the board, but (we knew) we had a very good bowling attack. It was about believing in ourselves. Wicket wasn’t as easy (to bat on). If we can’t do it, we won’t let them do it either. So everyone was positive and doing their best,” the leg-spinner said.