The Afghanistan wristspinner gave no indication that he would become this good early on. But now he stands at the pinnacle
Sampath Bandarupalli04-Feb-2025Rashid Khan has gone past Dwayne Bravo to become the leading wicket-taker in T20 cricket. Bravo, who retired from professional cricket in 2024, finished his T20 career with 631 wickets. Rashid surpassed that tally when he castled Dunith Wellalage of Paarl Royals in the SA20 Qualifier 1 on Tuesday.Entering the third season of SA20, Rashid needed ten wickets to move beyond Bravo’s tally, and it took him ten matches to seal the record.When Rashid made his T20 debut in October 2015, Lasith Malinga was the format’s leading wicket-taker. Bravo took the title in April 2016, at 31, becoming the first bowler to reach 300 wickets. Bravo’s reign at the top lasted nearly eight years and ten months, more than twice that of any other bowler; he had the record for almost 40% of the T20 format’s overall lifespan up until then.Unlike Bravo, Rashid, who’s now 26, will have age on his side, allowing him to potentially add more wickets to his record and hold it for even longer. Before turning 38, Bravo had accumulated 614 wickets but took only 17 in the 26 matches he played thereafter until his retirement.
Only one player younger than Rashid has ever held the top position on the T20 wickets list – Jimmy Ormond, who was 25 years and 297 days old on the opening day of the T20 Cup in 2003, which was the starting point for the 20-over format. Ormond took five wickets on debut for Surrey against Middlesex, but his stint at the top lasted just three days.It is also rare for a spinner to be top of the pile in T20 cricket: only two others have held that position before – Jason Brown and Nayan Doshi. Brown, an offspinner, became the leading wicket-taker during the inaugural T20 Cup in 2003 after claiming ten wickets in his first four matches, but he went down in the rankings within four days.Nayan, a left-arm orthodox spinner and son of former Indian cricketer Dilip Doshi, held the top spot between July 2006 and June 2008 while playing for Surrey and Derbyshire in England.Rashid’s quick surge to the topRashid had just 19 wickets in 14 matches and was yet to experience franchise cricket when Bravo became the leading T20 wicket-taker. By the end of 2016, he was not in the top 500 wicket-takers, with only 38 wickets – 329 behind Bravo’s total.Then, Rashid became a highly sought-after player in the T20 format in 2017, following his IPL debut. By the end of 2019, he was ranked 11th among the top wicket-takers in men’s T20s and moved to second place behind Bravo in 2022.
Rashid’s impressive rise was fuelled by consistent performances. He took over 50 wickets in T20s for eight consecutive calendar years from 2017 to 2024. No other player has achieved 50-plus wickets in more than five years, and no one has done it more than three times in a row.In 2018, Rashid nearly claimed 100 wickets, finishing with 96 from 61 matches – the most by any bowler in a calendar year. He also took 81 wickets in 2022 and 80 in 2017. Bravo is the only other bowler to claim 80 or more wickets in a year, with 87 in 2016. Rashid has taken 75 or more wickets in a calendar year four times. No other bowler has done it more than once.
At home in every phaseThe only phase where Rashid’s numbers may not be utterly dominant – at least by his own high standards – is in the powerplay. In this phase, he has an average of 25.57 and an economy rate of 6.94 (this data only includes matches for which ball-by-ball data is available). Only 19 of the 150 players who have bowled over 1000 balls in the powerplay have better averages and economy rates than Rashid.At the death (overs 17-20), however, Rashid takes it to the next level, becoming extremely hard to score against. He has an economy rate of 7.92 at the death, the second-best among the 67 players who have bowled over 800 balls in that phase in men’s T20s.ESPNcricinfo LtdRashid has taken 124 wickets in the death overs, with an average of 14.57, the best among those 67 bowlers.Like most spinners, though, Rashid has taken most of his wickets in the middle overs.He has taken 436 wickets while bowling between overs seven and 16, about 80 more than the next-best in this phase, Imran Tahir (355). Rashid’s average of 18.25 is the fourth-best among the 67 players who have taken over 100 wickets in this phase, and his economy rate of 6.18 ranks third.Finding success in every leagueRashid has 149 IPL wickets, sitting at No. 12 on the league’s wickets charts. His tally is the joint-highest across the eight seasons since his debut, alongside Yuzvendra Chahal.Despite the increasing run rates, Rashid has maintained an economy rate under seven in the IPL. His economy of 6.82 places him just behind Sunil Narine (6.73) among the 24 bowlers with over 100 wickets. Only Muthiah Muralidaran (6.67) sits higher than these two among the 72 players with 50-plus wickets.
Rashid has also made his mark in the Big Bash League, playing in entirely different conditions from the IPL, which illustrates his adaptability. Although he has not played the BBL since the 2022-23 season, he remains the league’s leading wicket-taker among overseas players with 98.Rashid has also succeeded in the Caribbean Premier League and Pakistan Super League, getting 29 and 44 wickets respectively, while maintaining a low economy rate.He has accumulated 410 wickets from 310 matches across T20 franchise leagues. Only Bravo (493) and Narine (460) have more, but both have played over 400 games.
Rashid’s success goes beyond T20 leagues and domestic competitions. He is currently the second-highest wicket-taker in T20 Internationals, with 161, just three behind Tim Southee. His impressive tally of 37 wickets in men’s T20 World Cups places him among the tournament’s top five, especially noteworthy since his first T20 World Cup was only in 2016.Holding the edge against top battersIn T20 leagues, Rashid has dominated most of the batters he has encountered. Among the 120 batters who have faced at least 24 balls from or been dismissed twice by him, 80 either average below 20 or strike at less than a run a ball against him. That illustrates how tough it has been for batters to score quickly against him while also preserving their wicket.
Rashid has consistently managed to keep the top run-scorers in T20 cricket in check. Against batters who have currently scored over 8000-plus runs in their T20 careers, he’s struck 92 times. Only Sunil Narine (95) and Bravo (94) have claimed the wickets of these batters more frequently (in matches where ball-by-ball data is available).Rashid stands out when it comes to bowling averages. Batters with 8000-plus T20 career runs average 22.09 against him, the third-lowest average among 115 bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 500 balls to them. Additionally, the combined batting strike rate for these players against Rashid is 111.88, the fourth-lowest among those 115 bowlers.ESPNcricinfo LtdOther prominent numbers from Rashid’s career4 – Rashid has four hat-tricks in T20s, the most by any bowler. He has one each in the CPL, BBL and IPL, and one for Afghanistan in a T20I.209 – The number of T20 wickets that have come through bowleds for Rashid, the most for any bowler in T20s and 56 more than the next best, Malinga.136 – The number of T20 wickets Rashid has through lbws, the most for any bowler in the format. Imran Tahir has the next highest, with 87.20 – Hauls of four wickets or more for Rashid in T20s, four more than any other bowler.