On April 17, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) clashed with Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 9th match of the ongoing IPL at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
Batting first, the Mumbai-based franchise were comfortable at 55 runs before Rohit Sharma (32) was trapped by Vijay Shankar. The Rohit Sharma-led team had scored around nine runs per over in the initial over but struggled to maintain the run rate and could only make 150 in their allotted twenty overs.
In response, after a good start by David Warner (36) and his opening partner Jonny Bairstow (43), lost wickets in quick succession and were bundled out for 137 in the last over.
This was the third time in the 14th edition of IPL that Sunrisers have choked despite getting a good start.
However, one saving grace for the Hyderabad-based franchise was Rashid Khan. The leggie bowled four economical overs conceding just 22 runs at an economy rate of 5.50. Even though he went wicketless, but his ability to deceive the MI batsmen left them perplexed.
Rashid bowled against in-form Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock, and Keiron Pollard. The Afghanistan-born cricketer only gave six runs in the 16th over when Pollard and Kishan were at the crease
The ‘Player of the Match’ Pollard couldn’t demystify Khan, which speaks volumes about his ability to bowl in crucial moments.
Talking about the same, the former-Indian-cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth has opined that the Rashid is by far the most valuable player in IPL history. He went onto add that Rashid’s bowling helped Sunrisers restrict MI to 150 runs. And the former World Cup-winner was also thrilled to watch such nail-biting matches at the Chepauk.
@rashidkhan_19 you are by far the most valuable player in the IPL ever! Absolute amazing bowling which helped the @SunRisers to restrict @mipaltan to 150 odd! Chepaulk becoming the epicenter for thrillers this #IPL2021 #SRHvMI pic.twitter.com/H5wIKOETA5
— Kris Srikkanth (@KrisSrikkanth) April 17, 2021
Rashid was bought by SRH in IPL 2017 for INR 4 crores and he bagged 17 wickets in his maiden IPL season, making him invaluable to the SRH team.
With this, the Afghan cricketer’s value increased to INR 9 crores and was retained by his team.
In the ongoing IPL, he has taken four wickets in 3 matches at a brilliant average of 16.00 and an all-time lowest personal IPL economy rate of 5.33.
