Rashid Khan endeared himself to cricket fans on Wednesday after he pulled off an MS Dhoni-style helicopter shot while batting for Maratha Arabians in the T10 League.
Rashid's is a name that has become quickly synonymous with T20 cricket. The Afghan burst onto the scene in India during the 2016 World T20 and has not looked back since.
His meteoric rise has mainly been due to his bowling exploits in the Indian Premier League where he represents Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Rashid has also been very successful for his nation and at 20, already has 118 ODI wickets to his name at an average of 14.47. As brilliant as those numbers are, his T20 figures are even better. The leg-spinner has 64 wickets from 35 matches at an average of 12.
Now, Rashid's talent with the bat has come to the fore in the game's latest and shortest format yet – the T10 leg.
Anyone who watched IPL would already be familiar with Rashid's match-changing ability with the bat lower down the order and he gave another evidence of the same in the ongoing T10 league.
Facing the gigantic Mohammad Irfan in the 9th over of his team's innings, Rashid Khan went deep in his crease and hoicked an overpitched delivery and swivelled his bat in recoil as he watched the ball sail into the long on fence for a six.
Rashid had realized that he had successfully executed MS Dhoni's signature Helicopter and even held his pose for a couple of seconds for the cameras.
Rashid had got Dhoni out in the last edition of the IPL but perhaps this shot will give him as much satisfaction given his self-admitted penchant to wield the bat.
Rashid's side will once again be in action tonight when they take on the Sindhis at Sharjah.
