4 statistical phenomena that have accompanied the rise of Rashid Khan

#3 Speed and variations

Generally, a leggie rolls his wrist and makes the ball come slowly on to the batsman. But certain leg-spinners like Shahid Afridi and Rashid use extra pace along with turn, making it difficult for the batsmen to rotate the strike or go for lofted shots.

As far as his two IPL editions are concerned, 15 of the 38 wickets Rashid has taken were through googlies, out of which 11 exceeded 90 kph. More than half of the wickets were bowled at speeds exceeding 91 kph, and some even touching 9-99 kph.

Almost 25% of Rashid's dismissals were via conventional leg-spin, and these deliveries were also mostly greater than 90 kph. Only around 18% of his wickets were bowled at a speed of less than 88 kph.

A leggie can exhibit several variations such as leg-break, top-spin, googly, flipper, slider / zooter. Here is a look at what each of them represents:

- Leg break- This is the stock delivery of a leg-spinner.

- Top-spin - The ball pitches in and dips quickly, and comes straight on to the batsman without any turn.

- Googly - The ball is pitched outside off and appears to be a leg break, but instead, it comes on towards the batsman, like off-spin.

- Flipper - The ball is bowled short, with low bounce, and it travels straight.

- Slider / zooter - This variation is rarely used by leg spinners. Unlike top-spin, as slider carries the ball to a fuller length and creates low bounce in unexpected fashion.

Rashid Khan mainly uses three variations - the leg break, top-spin and the googly. The fact that he bowls googlies more frequently than other leg-spinners, makes him a more consistent wicket-taker. This is confirmed by the observation that most of his wickets have been in the form of LBW and bowled.

Here are a few videos that show the speeds of Rashid's wicket-taking deliveries:

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