When Royal Challengers Bengaluru picked Rasikh Salam Dar for ₹6 crore last season, most experts thought they had gambled big time. However, he seems to have repaid the RCB brass’ faith in him.
Rasikh’s journey from Srinagar to the glitz and glamour of the IPL has been built on persistence, with the pacer overcoming early challenges before being able to showcase his talent.
The 26-year-old has been impressive with five wickets in three games so far, including a fine 4/24 versus Lucknow Super Giants last week.
“When I started playing professionally, my family and relatives used to say that no one can take up cricket as a profession because very few people were playing from our region,” he recalled. “But my mother always believed in
me. Since childhood, she used to say that my son will become a cricketer.”
But just as his career began to move forward, it came to a halt. Rasikh spent nearly two years away from competitive cricket between 2019 and 2021.
After being picked by Kolkata Knight Riders in 2022, injuries again disrupted him. “I got a back injury after playing two matches. Then I got injured again during recovery. At that time, I realised I shouldn’t rush. I had to follow the process, no matter how long it took.”
But he has learnt a lot from working with the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood. He has the best economy of 8.03 among the RCB bowlers. “Working with players like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, I used to ask a lot of questions, why he bowled a certain delivery at a certain time. I just wanted to learn.”