IPL 2018: Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Rashid Khan happy to resume old rivalries

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) spin sensation Rashid Khan, who was awarded the Man of the Match for his outstanding spell of 4-0-13-1 against Mumbai Indians (MI) is happy to resume old rivalries in IPL — such as the one with Kieron Pollard. (MATCH REPORT)

Rashid bowled as many as 18 dot balls in his spell to help SRH contain Mumbai Indians, keeping them to 147/8 in their IPL 2018 match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday. (HIGHLIGHTS) (SCORECARD)

Rashid was seen taking an aggressive approach against Pollard, especially when the Mumbai batsman was trying to forge a partnership with Suryakumar Yadav.

“We are always having fun when are there in the centre. Against Pollard I did (that) in the Big Bash (League) as well so… we (would) have some good conversation which makes the game more entertaining. People would watch it and get fun from that,” Rashid told media on Thursday.

READ | IPL 2018: Virat Kohli vs R Ashwin battle spices up battle of big-hitters

“That was the plan, to go against him very aggressively and try to (get) him to make some mistake and get his wicket because his wicket was very crucial that time. He is a kind of player who can take the game away from you at any stage,” he added.

Lessons to be learnt

Rashid said SRH will learn their lessons after a one-wicket last-ball win over Mumbai, a situation far more perilous from 62 for no loss at one stage.

“That happens, T20 is all about like this. Sometimes you will go well and suddenly everything will change. It was a good experience for us, (we) learned a lot of things… especially for the batsmen (in the sense) that until the last run (is scored) the match is not finished. Everyone should take the responsibility and play till the end,” he said.

“We should have finished it as we did in the last match. We should have finished it like that. But as I said before it is not (possible) that everyday (we would have) the same performance as yesterday (against Rajasthan Royals). But we will learn from it, we will learn from the mistakes and hopefully we will not repeat them in the future.”

“That was a good wake-up call for us for the upcoming matches, we won the match at the end. It was a good tea effort but it happens in T20, sometimes you lost (many) wickets in a short time. We will learn from it and hopefully not repeat it in the upcoming matches,” Rashid added.

After restricting Rajasthan Royals to 125/9 in their first match, Sunrisers Hyderabad turned up heat on Mumbai Indians. Rashid, on his part, was all praise for SRH’s bowlers.

“It was a good performance to restrict them under 150, it was totally a good bowling effort, all the boys bowled really well. We have a very good bowling side,” he expressed.

‘Wonderful’ Markande dazzles

Mumbai Indians’ leg-spinner Mayank Markande had SRH on the ropes with his spell of 4-0-23-4, and earned praise from Rashid who is considered one of the best in business in limited-overs cricket.

“He is wonderful to watch. I watched him in the first game; he bowled really well in Mumbai,” Rashid said.

“Today, the way he bowled was amazing, really impressed by him. Leg-spinners are like that, once they get their line and length right — that is what he did — you can bowl against any batsman in any condition. I think the way he bowled was really impressive. It was a hard condition when you are defending a low total, then it is difficult for you to take wickets and not give them runs. But he did really well,” Rashid added.