Former Indian player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra expressed concern over Gujarat Titans (GT) spinner Rashid Khan’s poor form with the ball after their eight-wicket win over the RCB on April 2. Despite a good show overall by GT to win their second consecutive game, Rashid had a bad day with the ball as he conceded 54 in his four overs without picking up a wicket.

Talking about Rashid’s poor form on ESPN Cricinfo, Chopra said: “If you went on the back foot thinking ‘I am going to read it off the surface’, nine out of ten times you were a sitting duck. But now it doesn’t seem to be the case. You can actually pull him, you can easily guide him for a single and then he is overcompensating with going fuller which again means he is taken for runs.”

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“Last match he bowled only a couple of overs, first game, he wasn’t that impressive either. This match, he has leaked a lot of runs. It is worth looking at whether his speeds have come down a shade. That zip is missing. Maybe the length is just six inches shorter which allows people to play him off the back foot a lot more. Something you couldn’t do in the past,” he again shared.

However, Aakash Chopra also recalled that Rashid Khan had a similarly poor season last year, but his return from injury made it less worrying
for GT and their fans as well. He claimed only 10 wickets in 12 games in IPL 2024 at an average of 36.70 and an economy of 8.40.

“If it was just one innings, you would say ‘Ok, something has gone wrong’. Last year, we had this explanation that he is coming back from an injury, and bowlers around him are leaking so many runs that he has to bowl in areas that he is not comfortable bowling in. And therefore he is also becoming a part of a mediocre bowling unit. So you become one of the lot,” concluded Aakash Chopra.