England legspinner’s changes of pace proved crucial in stopping the hosts from chasing 172 in Rajkot
Hemant Brar29-Jan-20252:51
Takeaways: Rashid show masks England batting worries
A spinner has to pull off something special to have R Ashwin gushing about him. That’s exactly what Adil Rashid did in the eighth over of India’s chase during the third T20I in Rajkot.Chasing 172, India lost Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma early but Tilak Varma was on the attack. He slapped Brydon Carse over extra cover for a one-bounce four to open his account and then launched Liam Livingstone for a straight six.This was not a typical, high-scoring Rajkot pitch. It was much slower. The first ball of the match, bowled by Mohammed Shami, did not carry to the wicketkeeper. But Tilak has been batting on a different plane. Coming into this match, he had scored 318 runs since his last dismissal in T20Is.When Rashid came into the attack, India had moved to 62 for 3 in seven overs. After five uneventful deliveries, he tossed one up outside Tilak’s off stump. The batter went for a cut only for the ball to land on good length and turn viciously to ping middle stump, beating him both in the air and off the pitch.”Absolute seed,” Ashwin tweeted. “Scrambled seam and serious side spin. Top bowling Adil Rashid.”Adil Rashid bowled a beauty in his very first over to dismiss Tilak Varma•Associated PressIndia still had plenty of strokemakers to come. But Rashid used his experience – he has been playing T20Is since 2009 – to handcuff them in the middle phase. From overs eight to 14, India scored just 28 runs.Since the start of 2024, India have hit a boundary every fifth ball on average. Here, they went 45 balls without hitting one off the bat. Rashid bowled all his overs during this period. In fact, India attempted only one attacking shot against him. That, too, Axar Patel failed to middle and the ball rolled towards deep midwicket for one. Despite one left-hand batter in the middle throughout his four overs and the square boundaries being only 66 and 67 metres, Rashid finished with figures of 1 for 15.”I think credit goes to Adil ; he bowled really well in those overs,” India captain Suryakumar Yadav said after the match. “We wanted to rotate strike but he didn’t let us. That’s why he is a world-class bowler.”As per ESPNcricinfo’s logs, Rashid bowled ten googlies, always keeping batters on their toes. But the hallmark of his spell was the pace variations, with which he even overshadowed Varun Chakravarthy’s 5 for 24 from earlier in the day.
“While you are working on your game, you start developing certain things,” Rashid said after the match. “I think that’s probably one of my strengths – to mix it up. Bowling a bit slower, a bit quicker, and adjust to the pitch.”When we were batting, the pitch looked fairly slow, a bit low. The ball wasn’t really coming onto the bat. So as a bowling unit, we had to see whether the pace on or pace off was working.”
“In the first couple of balls, he seems to work out exactly how he needs to bowl on a wicket. He is an absolute trump card”Jos Buttler on Adil Rashid
Rashid bowled his first ball at 86.1kph, and second at 79.9kph. That gave him enough idea. Throughout his spell, he kept varying his pace, going as high as 88.3kph and as low as 67.9kph, never allowing batters to get used to it.During their chase in the second T20I in Chennai, India kept attacking, sometimes even at the cost of wickets. Here, they seemed to be playing out Rashid’s final over even though the asking rate had crossed 12. Eventually, they fell short by 26 runs.”I always say he is the most important player for us,” England captain Jos Buttler said of Rashid. “And he always seems to keep getting better. He has got so many different styles of bowling, so much variety. It is one of his great skills. In the first couple of balls, he seems to work out exactly how he needs to bowl on a wicket. He is an absolute trump card to have for a captain. And he has been brilliant in the last couple of games.”In the previous match, too, Rashid had equally impressive figures: 4-0-14-1. But England did not have enough runs to defend. It could have been the same script on Tuesday as well had Rashid and Mark Wood not added 24 off 17 balls for the tenth wicket.Still, England’s 171 for 9 looked well below par, given the average first-innings total in Rajkot had been 189. But with dew not setting in, the pitch becoming slower and difficult to bat on, and Rashid weaving his magic, it was enough to keep them alive in the series.
