The journey to an extraordinary life begins with the ordinary.
Rashid Khan’s extraordinary career’s first real turning point came in 2017. The defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad fought off a fierce bidding battle with the mighty Mumbai Indians, and landed the services of a talented 19-year old youngster. The rest is history
Rashid Khan’s stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad
Rashid Khan made his debut for the defending champions in the season opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He took just 4 balls to get into the wickets column, comprehensively going through Mandeep Singh’s defence. He would bamboozle so many great batters in the years to come.
Rashid Khan’s 93 wickets are the 2nd most for SRH in IPL, and the most by a spinner. His best ever performance came in the Qualifier 2 of the 2017 season against the Kolkata Knight Riders. 34* off 10 with the bat, 3/19 with the ball, 2 catches, 1 run out. Rashid was everywhere, doing everything, all at once. He was impressive at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad as well. His 28 wickets in 21 matches were bettered only by Amit Mishra’s 30 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 48 wickets.
Rashid Khan spent his final two years with the orange army, away from Hyderabad, owing to the covid-19 outbreak. SRH reached the playoffs in the first four years of Rashid Khan, and it all went down south in his final year. Captaincy change, mid-season axing of David Warner and other issues resulted in them finishing dead last in the points table.
One man’s loss is another man’s gain
The player retention announcement ahead of the 2022 mega auction shocked the cricket ecosystem. Sunrisers Hyderabad released Rashid Khan and handed a big lifeline to the rest of the teams.
The CEO of Sunrisers, K Shanmugam revealed that it was Rashid Khan, who wanted to be in the auction pool, in order to fetch a bigger price for his service.
However, Rashid Khan’s name didn’t even reach the auction table. Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants, the two new teams were allowed to draft three players before the auction. Gujarat Titans jumped at the first available opportunity and drafted Rashid Khan. GT paid 15 cr to Rashid, the same amount they paid for their captain Hardik Pandya.
The Hardik-Rashid combo landed the title right away in the inaugural season. The duo were two balls away from winning their 2nd consecutive title in 2023.
GT promptly retained Rashid Khan ahead of the 2025 mega auction. In fact, he has been paid the highest amount (18 cr), even ahead of the captain Shubman Gill (16.5 cr).
An unusual start to 2025 season
Rashid Khan has endured an unusually underwhelming start to the 2025 season. Of the 15 spinners to have bowled 10 overs in IPL 2025, Rashid has taken the joint-fewest wickets (1), with the 2nd worst economy (11.2). He even conceded his 2nd worst IPL figures (0/54) in his previous game, against RCB.
Home comfort
Rashid Khan is returning to Hyderabad, seeking home comfort. The magician is back to show his wizardry to his beloved audience, after a long gap of 6 years. The ‘city of pearls’ is ready to witness its lost pearl.
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