How Rashid Khan turned the game his way with a mix of fast and slow

A set of six balls from Rashid Khan can be over in a flash. He runs in like a medium-pacer with a short run-up, and swings his shoulder around fast with his wrist flicking out the ball. He walks back quickly too. But when he has your number, when you cannot tackle him, his over doesn't seem to end. It can even happen in a T20 in which everything whizzes past quickly. But in a Test match, when you are trying to rebuild an innings or block out everything for survival, a Rashid Khan over can seem like forever if you are the batsman.

Twice he broke Bangladesh's back in the one-off Test. On both occasions, the home side had been on the way to recovery, and if they had survived Rashid's spell, they could have felt more comfortable and confident to build towards a bigger total. Had they played him out in the second innings, it would have lifted a huge mental barrier.

But there were a few long overs from rapid Rashid. On the second afternoon with Bangladesh on 86 for 3, he struck Shakib Al Hasan's front pad in front of the stumps, and had Mushfiqur Rahim caught at short leg, in the space of three deliveries. For a side already without Tamim Iqbal, removing one of these batsmen makes a huge difference to the Bangladesh line-up. Rashid delivered two knockout punches at one go. Bangladesh would have wanted that over before tea to be forgotten quickly, but it became the decisive over in the first innings.

For good measure, Rashid knocked over Mahmudullah with one that skidded through in his third over after tea. He dismissed Bangladesh's three most experienced batsmen pretty quickly. But for the Bangladesh dressing room it would have seemed like an eternity.

Bangladesh were once again in a reasonable position when he came for his first proper spell in the second innings. In the second and third over, he removed Mushfiqur for the second time in the game, and sixth time in nine innings across formats. It was a googly that had Mushfiqur's number this time, and in the next over he spun back one sharply at the left-hand batsman Mominul Haque. You would think the batsman would have time to bring his bat down to a legspinner, but Shakib, Mushfiqur (twice) and Mominul didn't seem to have enough time. Rashid isn't always pacy, but he is deceptive. He changes the whirl of his shoulder and wrist so subtly, that batsmen end up reacting like they are playing a fast bowler.

Towards the end of the fourth day, he set up Mahmudullah by forcing him to go back and come forward several times, finally using a wrong'un to strike his inside edge, easily caught at short leg.

When Afghanistan really needed wickets, with very little time left in the game on the fifth evening, Rashid knew that he would have to make the difference. After a bit of resistance, Rashid burst through Mehidy Hasan and Taijul Islam and with the overs running out, he again set up a batsman with his mix of fast and slow.

He went through his usual motions, but he bowled the 60th and 62nd overs ever so slowly. Soumya Sarkar, knowing well he couldn't attack with one wicket left, was set on defending every ball. Some squirted off his edge and fell short of the fielder, while others spun past his bat. The ones he defended struck the middle of his bat, but in this tight situation, even a textbook-defence can't make a batsman confident.

Soumya defended the first three balls of the 62nd over, but when Rashid spun one back into his pads with a hint of flight, he stepped out and tried to smother the spin. It took an edge and popped to short leg. The over was over.

Rashid had run away with his team-mates, as they celebrated a memorable win. He was gone before Soumya could look up. Soumya would have preferred had Rashid been gone so quickly from his sight without doing so much damage, but the Afghanistan captain finished with figures of 11 for 104.

Rashid had also scored a fifty in the game, and the last captain to take 10 wickets and score a half-century in the same match was Shakib, his opposite number in this Test. "He has been a world-class bowler in T20s for a while now, although he is new to Test cricket," Shakib said. "He has shown his ability against us that he can apply his skills to Tests too. He was a factor for us, he took 11 wickets. He was handy with the bat in the first innings. His half-century took his side forward at that stage."

Indeed, it was the Rashid factor that really got to Bangladesh, quickly and slowly.