He is one of our best spinners: Gulbadin Naib defends Rashid Khan after England assault

Rashid Khan endured probably the worst day of his cricket career so far on Tuesday. Eoin Morgan and other England batsmen went haywire against him and slammed 11 sixes off the leggie as he went on to concede 110 runs in his nine-over spell. England went on to post a mammoth total of 397 runs to bat Afghanistan out of the game in Manchester and the Asian side lost the game by 150 runs. However, the skipper Gulbadin Naib has reinstated the fact that Rashid is still their best spinner and claimed that he just had a bad day at the office.

Rashid, however, was at the receiving end of some of the records. 0/110 are the worst figures for a spinner in ODI cricket ever. Also, the youngster recorded the fastest ton with the ball going for 100 runs in 8.1 overs and it was also the worst World Cup spell ever. Not to forget that Eoin Morgan was dropped off his bowling itself and the England skipper then was on 28.

Gulbadin Naib, after the match, defended Rashid Khan saying that any bowler can have a bad day like that and the team is not too concerned about his form.

He’s a star player in world cricket

“He’s one of the best spinners, he’s a star player in world cricket. It can happen with any player. Everyone knows how good he is and how he bowls. I think it was not his day today. But it’s cricket, sometimes you do well, sometimes this kind of stuff happens. I’m happy with him. I don’t think it’s a big deal,” Naib said in the post-match press conference.

As far as his performance in the World Cup so far is concerned, Rashid hasn’t been able to wield his magic. He has sent down 31.5 overs in five innings and has only managed to pick three wickets and the man himself would be disappointed with this show. Afghanistan next face India on Saturday and the leggie will be keen to make an impact against some of the top batsmen.