CPL 2020: Rashid Khan, with some fancy wrist work, hits his first ball out of the park

The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2020 started off on a fabulous note with two exciting games of cricket. Many extravagant shots were played right on the opening day of the tournament. However, it was Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan who grabbed all the eyeballs with a stunning shot. It was the second game of the tournament and the Barbados Tridents took on St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in this encounter.

The match wasn’t a particularly high-scoring one. At 116/8 after only 14.4 overs, the Barbados Tridents were in a clear spot of bother. A couple of errors at that stage and they would have had a very low total to defend. However, the adrenaline rush got the best out of Rashid Khan. The first ball that he faced, he smashed it for a six. And the way he executed that shot was the most impressive.

Powerful wrists from Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan, coming in to bat at No. 10, pulled off something that many top order batsmen might also struggle to do. On the fifth ball of the 15th over bowled by Alzarri Joseph, Rashid Khan quickly got into position. The 21-year-old cleared his front foot, got his back foot across to cover the stumps, and used his wrists to flick the ball into the stands. The way he played that shot made it look so easy to the eye and looked like a ‘hockey flick’.

SHOT BOI! @rashidkhan_19 unleashes #cpl20 #BTvSKP #CricketPlayerLouder pic.twitter.com/37HrhiWDY2

— CPL T20 (@CPL) August 18, 2020

Rashid was one of the top performers in this game and played an important part in helping his team get over the line. He did a brilliant job with the bat where he scored 26 runs off 20 balls in a knock which also included two sixes and a four.

He was then involved in a brilliant run-out to dismiss the dangerous Evin Lewis. The leg-spinner even picked up the wickets of Denesh Ramdin and Jahmar Hamilton. In the four overs that he bowled, he conceded 27 runs only. His efforts, combined with those of Mitchell Santner, helped his team win the game by 6 runs. In the first game of the tournament, Sunil Narine was the star and helped his team win the game.