---
type: story
title: "Rashid Khan: Nine Seasons of Economy Data, One Uncomfortable Story"
description: >
  In 2020/21, Rashid Khan posted a 5.34 economy across 16 IPL matches.
  In IPL 2026, he posted 9.08. The nine-season table shows exactly when
  the line moved — and why the story is more interesting than a simple decline.
tags:
  - IPL
  - bowling
  - player
  - records
  - evolution
status: active
last_verified: 2026-06-25
timestamp: 2026-06-25
license: CC-BY-4.0
source_system: CricketStudio
source_boundary: public_open_data
canonical_page: https://okf.cricketstudio.ai/stories/rashid-economy-nine-seasons/
resource: https://okf.cricketstudio.ai/stories/rashid-economy-nine-seasons/
entity_id: cricketstudio:story:rashid-economy-nine-seasons
dataset_version: 2026-06-11
provenance:
  source: >
    Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 for pre-2026 career (136 matches, 158 wickets, seasons 2017–2025).
    CricketStudio IPL 2026 snapshot (version 2026-06-11) for IPL 2026 figures.
    Phase splits for IPL 2026 from CricketStudio ball-by-ball capture.
  confidence: high
  notes: >
    Season-by-season economy figures from Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 (2017-2025) and
    CricketStudio IPL 2026 dataset. Economy is RPO (runs per over, legal deliveries only).
related:
  - ../scorebook/players/rashid-khan.md
  - ../metrics/bowling-economy.md
  - ../stories/ipl-2026-bowling-took-a-beating.md
  - ../stories/spin-bowling-after-impact-player.md
---

# Rashid Khan: Nine Seasons of Economy Data, One Uncomfortable Story

## The Question Nobody Asked

If 5.34 was possible in 2020, what happened between then and 9.08 in 2026?

## What the Data Says

**[Rashid Khan](https://players.cricketstudio.ai/players/rashid-khan) season-by-season economy (Cricsheet CC BY 3.0 + CricketStudio IPL 2026 snapshot):**

| Season | Team | Matches | Wickets | Economy |
|--------|------|---------|---------|---------|
| 2017 | SRH | 14 | 17 | 6.63 |
| 2018 | SRH | 17 | 21 | 6.74 |
| 2019 | SRH | 15 | 17 | 6.38 |
| **2020/21** | **SRH** | **16** | **20** | **5.34** |
| 2021 | SRH | 14 | 18 | 6.67 |
| 2022 | GT | 16 | 19 | 6.60 |
| 2023 | GT | 17 | 27 | 8.24 |
| 2024 | GT | 12 | 10 | 8.40 |
| 2025 | GT | 15 | 9 | 9.35 |
| **IPL 2026** | **GT** | **17** | **21** | **9.08** |

**IPL 2026 phase splits:**

| Phase | Balls | Runs | Wickets | Economy |
|-------|-------|------|---------|---------|
| Powerplay (ov 1–6) | 12 | 9 | 0 | 4.50 |
| Middle (ov 7–15) | 275 | 386 | 19 | 8.42 |
| Death (ov 16–20) | 54 | 106 | 2 | 11.78 |

*(Source: CricketStudio IPL 2026 phase-split dataset, version 2026-06-11)*

## The Wow

The 5.34 in 2020/21 was not an outlier. His 2017–2022 average economy was 6.57 across six seasons — genuinely elite for a spinner in T20 franchise cricket.

The break point is 2023. In that year he posted 8.24 — a 1.64 RPO jump from his 2022 figure of 6.60. This is the IPL's Impact Player Rule era beginning.

Three patterns visible in the 2026 phase data:
1. He is barely bowling in the powerplay: **12 balls across a full season**. That is not a role change — leg-spinners rarely bowl the powerplay anyway. But it confirms his primary value is overs 7–15.
2. The middle-overs economy (8.42) is high for a bowler of his calibre, but he is still **taking wickets** — 19 middle-overs wickets is the real reason GT keep bowling him.
3. The death economy (11.78) is poor — but the 54-ball death sample suggests occasional, not regular, use in overs 16–20.

His 2026 economy of 9.08 is inflated by the same post-2023 environment that affected every IPL spinner. His 21 wickets at economy 9.08 is a different problem than an economy of 9.08 with 10 wickets. He is still taking wickets. The cost has risen.

## What It Doesn't Say

The economy increase does not isolate whether the cause is Rashid getting older (he was born in 1998, so 27 in 2026), the Impact Player Rule raising every spinner's cost, or batters having studied him more thoroughly across nine seasons. Likely all three.

The 2020/21 figure (5.34) was achieved in the UAE, which has different pitch and conditions characteristics from India. It may not be a representative comparison for career-in-India economy.

Career wicket count: 158 (pre-2026) + 21 (IPL 2026) = ~179 wickets, making him one of IPL's highest all-time wicket-takers. The economy drift is real, but so is the wicket-taking rate.

## Related Concepts

- [Rashid Khan](../scorebook/players/rashid-khan.md)
- [Bowling Economy — metric](../metrics/bowling-economy.md)
- [IPL 2026: What the Bowling Numbers Are Actually Saying](../stories/ipl-2026-bowling-took-a-beating.md)
