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Across the 2023 and 2024 editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Liam Livingstone hit a grand total of zero sixes against leg-spin, amassing 29 runs off 39 balls at an average of 9.67 and a strike rate of 74.4.
In the clash against Gujarat Titans (GT) today, Livingstone hammered 39 runs off 17 balls against Rashid Khan, considered the best leg-spinner in the league, hammering as many as five sixes.
So, has Livingstone magically got better against leg-spin, or was Rashid Khan just……horrible?
Time will tell us about the former, but it is unquestionable that Rashid has made a horrendous start to IPL 2025, proving to not just be a shadow of his usual self but one of the worst bowlers in the entire season thus far.
In the clash against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Ahmedabad, Rashid, for the first time ever, did not bowl his full quota of 4 overs in an innings in which the opposition had batted all 20 overs. Shubman Gill felt that Rashid would not be his go-to bowler on that particular track, which is weird, because, for years, everywhere he’s played, the 26-year-old has been his side’s go-to man notwithstanding conditions and situation.
On either side of that MI clash, Rashid’s figures read: 8 overs, 102 runs, 1 wicket at an economy of 12.75. He’s not just been bad, he’s been BAD in capital letters. Supposedly, GT’s x-factor, Rashid, has thus far proven to be a liability, which is the last thing anyone would have expected ahead of the season.
In a way, it would be unfair to be harsh on Rashid for the PBKS performance, where 475 runs were scored across 40 overs. Every bowler went the distance in that game, and so did Rashid.
However, the performance against RCB tonight was nothing short of shocking, and alarm bells should be raised.
Gill introduced Rashid into the attack in the 12th over, and the game was perfectly set up for the leggie: RCB were 80/4, with their best spin-hitter Rajat Patidar back in the hut, with Rashid having Livingstone, Jitesh and Tim David to bowl to.
We already went through Livingstone’s numbers against leg-spin, but Jitesh and David weren’t elite by any means, averaging 23 and 14 against the said bowling type across IPL 2023 and IPL 2024.
Rashid bowled 22 of his 24 balls on the night against these three aforementioned batters and went for 54 runs.
You’d expect a player of Rashid’s quality and experience to tighten the noose and firmly apply the choke on the opposition batters after coming in to bowl at 80/4, but instead he was loose, all over the place and dropped the ball short nearly 30% of the time.
Worse, he painfully strayed down leg an eye-watering four times against Livingstone and paid the price big time, going for 15 runs off the misdirected deliveries.
Three games into the season, the pacers and Sai Kishore have been on the money for GT, but it’s been a monumental struggle for Rashid. Is this a rare slump that he’ll get over, or are we about to see Rashid drop his worst season ever in T20 cricket?
