“Not Many Of A Wicket-Taker”: SRH Batting Coach Brian Lara Makes Big Statement About Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan’s stats speak for themselves. On Saturday, the Gujarat Titans diver became the fourth foreign player to score 100 goals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after Dwayne Bravo (179 shots, 158 games), Lasith Malinga (170 wicks, 122 matches) and Sunil Narine (149 wicks, 142 matches). The Afghan cricketer is the third fastest athlete (83 games) to reach 100 matches in the IPL alongside Amit Mishra and Ashish Nehra.

Khan, who won 2/22 in four encounters against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday to become the 16th pitcher to win 100 batting in the IPL, plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad from 2017 to 2021. He became a superstar playing for the franchise. During his five seasons with them, Khan was one of the most consistent players in the T20 franchise with 93 goals in 76 games. However, he left SRH after the 2021 IPL and was picked up by the Gujarat Titans for INR 15 crore from the 2022 player draft.

But, batting coach SRH Brian Lara feels his team is doing well without the talented Khan. “I have a lot of respect for Rashid Khan but I believe we have the right combination. Rashid Khan is someone the opposing teams decided against, he’s not a catcher much,” Lara said on Star. Sports after SRH’s win over Royal. Bangalore Challengers on Saturday.

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“Having (economy of) 5.5-6 runs per over is great but I think when you have a guy like Washington Sundar swing the ball into the left-hander in the first six passes, He’s an asset. Suchith has come in instead of injury and he’s also an asset.

“So far, we’ve had four fast pitchers per game. Of course, the pitch can change, later it can be less grass. We have Shreyas Gopal as well, although so far he hasn’t played a single match. He’s also the one who scored a hat-trick at the IPL. I still think we have plenty of reserves for IPL projection and I’m not too worried. All respect Rashid Khan.