Rashid Khan had a smile on his face as he put his hand up, almost apologising. His crime? He made KL Rahul look clueless.
Rashid is not a big turner of the ball. He is a modern-day T20 legspinner, whipping out legbreaks, googlies, sliders and everything in between. But on Wednesday, playing for Gujarat Titans against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in IPL 2026, he beat Rahul with a legbreak that pitched around off stump and turned the width of a set of stumps.
And it was just the fifth over of the chase.
Rashid hasn’t been at his menacing best in the last couple of years. But he turned back the clock with his 3 for 17 from four overs – his first three-wicket haul in the IPL since April 2023.
After the first innings, when DC’s Lungi Ngidi finished with 1 for 24 from his four overs while GT posted 210 for 4, it looked like he had bowled the spell of the match. But Rashid trumped him and how.
Rashid is not known for bowling in the powerplay but with GT seamers proving ineffective, Shubman Gill brought him on as early as the fifth over. Rashid didn’t disappoint his captain and sneaked in a four-run over.
By the time Rashid came on for his second over, DC had sped to 71 for no loss in seven. He once again bowled a miserly over, conceding only five. His line, length and pace – all were impeccable, giving Pathum Nissanka and Rahul no chance to drive, cut or pull him.
Since the start of 2026, Rashid’s economy rate in T20s has been 6.65. The last time he had a better economy rate in a calendar year was in 2022. Still, the sting seemed to be missing. He was no longer the threat he used to be at his peak.
On Wednesday, he fixed that too. In his third over, the tenth of the innings, Nitish Rana attempted a reverse sweep. At first look, it seemed Rashid had trapped him lbw – at least the on-field umpire thought so and raised his finger. But Rana had got some bat on it. He used the DRS to get the decision reversed.
Rashid delivered the next ball from well behind the popping crease. It ended up being a half-tracker and Rana pulled it over midwicket for a one-bounce four. But Rashid came back strong. He corrected his length for the next delivery, and as Rana tried another big hit, he ended up miscuing it towards mid-off. Sai Sudharsan ran in from long-off and completed the catch with a slide. As Rana walked past Rashid, the bowler kept staring at him.
That brought Sameer Rizvi to the crease, as Impact Player. In his previous three IPL outings, including the one from the 2025 season, Rizvi had picked up three Player-of-the-Match awards. Here, he lasted just one ball. Rashid bowled a perfect googly, inviting the batter to drive before beating him on the inside edge and hitting the off stump.
A little later, Rashid’s googly snared another DC batter. Axar Patel, along with Shivam Dube, has been India’s designated spin-hitter in the last couple of years. But Rashid took only three balls to send him back. Bowling around the wicket with a diagonal run-up – something he rarely does – Rashid induced a miscue that went up towards extra cover, where Glenn Phillips back-pedalled and caught it over his shoulder.
Apart from his three wickets, Rashid also kept Rahul quiet. Before this game, Rahul had a strike rate of 103.75 against the legspinner in T20s. Here, despite DC chasing 211, he once again preferred to play Rashid out, scoring only six runs from his nine deliveries. During Rahul’s 92 off 52 balls, Rashid was the only one against whom he scored at less than a run a ball. In the end, DC lost by one run, giving GT their first win of the season.
At the post-match presentation, Rashid was in a jovial mood. When he was introduced as the GT bowler, he was quick to correct, saying, “Allrounder, I think. Perhaps you have forgotten because I haven’t hit a six so far this IPL.”
When the first question started with the words “last season”, Rashid interrupted: “Don’t remind me, yaar. It was too bad.”
Last IPL, Rashid took nine wickets from 15 games at an economy rate of 9.34. On both accounts, it was his worst IPL season.
“I didn’t bowl that well last year,” he said. “But it’s not like if you have a bad season, you are gone, everything is exposed and people are playing you [easily]. It’s just about your line and length. I feel like that’s something I missed last year.
“This year I am just focusing on that and trying not to overthink. I feel I bowled well in the last two games as well, and I conceded runs only when I missed my length.”
Rashid’s struggles had started after his back surgery post the 2023 ODI World Cup. He said he had made a mistake by rushing back to play and bowling a lot of overs in Test cricket. When asked about his plans, Rashid said he was still not ready for the rigours of red-ball cricket.
“I enjoy ODIs and I’m in good shape to play ODIs for a long period of time for Afghanistan. But I need to be careful with how many I play and not to put too much load on myself. But red-ball cricket is something that looks a bit difficult for me to keep playing. I can play one Test in a year but I don’t think I can play more than that.”
When asked if he would play the upcoming Test against India in June, just after the IPL, he said, “I have already played one [against India] before, so I will just take it easy and get myself ready for the [2027 ODI] World Cup. Imagine something happens to my back in that Test match… And I can’t play 100 Test matches. If I am playing one Test in a year, I can’t play for 100 years. So there is no target in Test cricket.”
