If any cricketer is synonymous with T20 cricket, it’s Rashid Khan. Although stats are not needed to understand Rashid’s impact, Rashid has the second-most wickets by an overseas bowler in the PSL, and that too at an average of just 15.5. His cameos with the bat have also won Lahore Qalandars matches. Moreover, he has been an inspirational figure in the Qalandars dressing room for the youngsters coming through.

The Problem

Rashid Khan was an integral part of Lahore Qalandars’ back-to-back title-winning campaigns; however, due to injury, national duty, or IPL, Rashid has recently been unavailable for the 2-time winners.

Lahore has previously retained him just so that whenever he is available, he doesn’t join any other team. This tactic is quite understandable, considering PSL’s draft process. If he were to be available in the draft, he would simply be picked by the team with the first pick – which isn’t the case with auctions.

However, Rashid Khan won’t be available for the PSL’s 10th edition as he will be playing in the IPL. It’s also possible that the PSL may continue to be hosted during the IPL, which makes it unlikely that he will participate in the PSL in upcoming seasons.

As the statistics show above, Rashid Khan’s contribution to the Lahore Qalandars has been more than just his bowling. However, it would be difficult to find someone to fill his bowling shoes alone, let alone replace him as an overall T20 package.

Possible Solutions

Let’s look at the numbers: among players who have scored a minimum of 50 runs while batting at 7 or lower and have taken a minimum of 5 wickets this year, who can Lahore Qalandars pick up?

Thomas Kaber

Let’s start with one that many may not have heard about. Thomas Kaber is a left-arm wrist spinner and right-handed batter, aged 32, who played for South Africa U19 a while back and has been part of MI Cape Town’s squad since the last edition.

Thomas has 7 wickets in the previous edition of SA20 at an average of 19.2. He is also the 2^nd-highest wicket-taker of the CSA T20 Challenge held in October 2024 with 13 wickets in 6 innings.

Here’s a table that shows which lines and lengths Thomas hit the most during the last SA20 and how he fared while bowling there:

This year, with the bat, he has only a couple of cameos while batting at 7-8, but previously, he has batted at 6 and scored some good runs. Other than that, Thomas averages 30+ with the bat in First-Class cricket with 3 centuries and 12 fifties, so it’s fair to assume he can hold a bat.

George Linde

George Linde played in the last season of the PSL for Lahore Qalandars. He also came in as a replacement for Rashid back then. His performance with the ball was not up to the mark, but with the bat, he was quite decent.

However, Linde has turned it around to some extent with the ball. He recently took a 4-fer against Pakistan and has had some decent returns with the ball from the period after the last PSL.

In his last 10 T20 games, he has taken 14 wickets at an average of 15.3. Even if we exclude the previous match against Pakistan, where he took 4/21, he would still average 19.3 in 9 games with 10 wickets.

With the bat in hand, he scored 48 (24) against Pakistan in the same game as the 4-fer and a couple of games before that, he scored 49* (23) against North West in the CSA T20 Challenge.

Nangeliya Kharote

Nangeliya is another one from Afghanistan’s spinner factory. A young left-arm spinner who can be handy with the bat, Nangeliya has prior experience playing cricket in Pakistan as well; he was part of the title-winning team of the Pakistan Junior League, Bahawalpur Royals.

After that, Nangeliya has represented Afghanistan in 6 T20Is, and he has taken 5 wickets only, but that can be because Afghanistan has a ton of spinners, and Kharote, being the new one, is played as a third spinner. He has only bowled in 4 out of 6 games and averages just 2 overs per game.

In the 2024 Shpageeza League, however, Kharote impressed with 11 wickets in 9 games at an average of 15.9 and a batting strike rate of over 140. Kharote bowled 30 overs in this tournament in 9 games – 3.2 overs per game.

Gudakesh Motie

Gudakesh Motie is a left-arm finger spinner who has been excelling in T20 cricket recently. He had the joint 2^nd-most wickets in CPL this year. Even in T20Is, Motie has 23 wickets this year at an average of 21.1.

He is no mug with the bat as well. He had a couple of good cameos in the last two T20I series against Sri Lanka when he came into bat at 62/5 and scored 32 off 15 balls. Similarly, against England, he came in to bat at 117/8 and scored 33 off 14 balls to take his team’s total to 182.

Dushan Hemantha

Dushan Hemantha is a young leg spinner from Sri Lanka who is an excellent fielder as well – to the point that Andrew Fidel Fernando pointed out that he has been used as a specialist sub-fielder at crucial points by Sri Lanka.

This was during last year’s Asia Cup, but he has recently also impressed with the ball. His leg spinners have been tough to pick for opposing teams this year. He recently took 15 wickets at 8.7 apiece in the Emerging Teams’ Asia Cup.

Before that, Hemantha was the 3^rd-best spinner in the Lanka Premier League after Shadab Khan and Wanindu Hasaranga. However, his bowling average and economy rate were better than both of them.

To go with his bowling, he has had a decent year with the bat down the order, too. One of his innings in the LPL caught people’s eyes, too, when he scored a quickfire 17 and hit a six against Hasaranga.

What’s needed at the Gaddafi Stadium?

Here’s which line and lengths the spinners have been successful at this venue since 2023 in all T20s:

Gudakesh Motie focuses more on the line outside off stump as he turns the ball away from the right-handed batters and has been playing on some pitches that assist spin a lot. Other than that, all others bowl mostly on a good length and attack the stumps. Interestingly, George Linde bowls as much outside off stump as much on the stumps at good length.

It will be interesting to see who Lahore Qalandars opt for to replace the irreplaceable Rashid Khan. Who do you think should be their top priority?

Stats are derived using Himanish Ganjoo’s T20 database.