Photo Credit: Adelaide Strikers
Superstar leg-spinner Rashid Khan will play a sixth season as a Striker after being successfully retained with Adelaide’s first selection at the KFC BBL|12 Draft.
The Afghanistan prodigy’s name was read out by Jason Gillespie in the Platinum Round, utilising the retention pick after Melbourne Stars attempted to sweep to secure the fan favourite’s services for the upcoming summer.
Speaking ahead of the Draft, Rashid spoke of his love for Adelaide and desire to continue his Strikers career.
“100%, more than 100%. I love my time in Adelaide; if they don’t pick me, I will pick myself and go there. I love Strikers, I love the fans, I love the city. If there is a city I would love to live in the future, it would be Adelaide.”
Thankfully for Rashid, he didn’t need to reach into the hat himself, with the Strikers not hesitating to ensure the beloved spinner would touch down at Adelaide Airport in December.
Rashid is undoubtedly one of the world’s most devastating and entertaining cricketers with over 1,000 wickets to his name across all formats.
He is the fastest player to notch 400 T20 wickets, was named ICC Men’s T20I Player of the Decade in 2020 and has earned a host of other records and accolades during his decorated career.
The 23-year-old is universally adored by teammates, competitors and fans of all allegiances such has been his impact in tournaments and series across the globe, including the Big Bash.
Rashid is the Strikers’ all-time leading BBL wicket-taker with 92 wickets and is ranked seventh overall in the tournament’s history. Incredibly, his economy rate of 6.44 is the best of any bowler with more than 40 BBL scalps.
The gifted right-arm spinner has been named in the BBL’s Team of the Tournament in every season since joining Adelaide in its Championship-winning summer of BBL|07 and earned back-to-back Strikers Most Valuable Player awards in his first two campaigns with the franchise.
Rashid has regularly turned the momentum of matches with his sheer brilliance and was the first Striker to claim a Big Bash hat-trick against the Sydney Sixers in BBL|09.
He bamboozled the Brisbane Heat in his final outing last summer with career-best T20 figures of 6/17 – only the third time any bowler has taken six wickets in a BBL match.
Rashid is equally as lively with the bat, smashing 51 boundaries and boasting the second-highest strike rate (155.31) of any Striker behind only former opener Ben Dunk.
