How to decode Rashid Khan? Laxman Sivaramakrishnan tells you!

Rashid Khan has ruled T20 franchises across the world. He has left Bangladesh batsmen groping throughout the T20 International series at Dehradun. Batsmen have found it almost impossible to tell the googly from the leg-break. He has done wonderfully in the 4 First-Class matches he has played, taking an incredible 35 wickets at a shade above 15. He will be Afghanistan's spearhead in their inaugural Test, that starts at Bengaluru in less than a week's time. With Mujeeb Zadran and Mohammad Nabi for support, Afghanistan may look to come at India with one of the most potent touring spin attacks.

Decades before Rashid, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan had bamboozled Englishmen in a Test at Mumbai with 12 wickets. Siva went on to dominate the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup in Australia that followed, when captain Sunil Gavaskar defied convention and backed him on the enormous Australian ground. Siva, now a commentator, has pointed out how to pick up Rashid's googly from his leg-break in response to a Facebook status from former Mumbai cricketer Shishir Hattangadi.

 

"If in his grip there is no gap between his fingers, then it's a leg break. If there is a gap between the index finger and the middle finger it's a googly," pointed out Siva.

This drew response from several others, including Rohan Gavaskar: "They do a split screen and then show us ( having freezed the frame ) what the grip for the googlu [sic] is and what the grip for the leg break is . All teams would be having the same footage also . It s easier said than done when it comes to picking him at full speed and under pressure : easier when u have the advantage of replays and slow motion ."