What's holding back Rashid Khan, the ODI bowler?

It was an incongruous sight. As Rohit Sharma raced to 76 off 43, making light of Afghanistan's 272 for 8, Rashid Khan prowled around the outfield under the Bishan Singh Bedi Stand at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium. India were cruising to an eight-wicket win, yet the opposition's best bowler was at deep midwicket.

By the time Rashid finally came into the attack to bowl the 15th over, India were 125 for 0. He dismissed both openers, having Ishan Kishan caught at cover and bowling Rohit after being taken for three consecutive boundaries, but those wickets served only to underline the peculiarity: why did Afghanistan use five other bowlers before Rashid?

Jonathan Trott, their coach, could only suggest it owed to Hashmatullah Shahidi's "gut feel", saying: "That's a captain's prerogative. There is a case, when the ball gets a little bit older, for Rash to bowl with it, and it gets a little bit more turn; it doesn't skid on as much."

And yet, Trott could not help but make his own view clear: "Certainly, you want a guy like Rash in the attack as soon as possible," he said, conceding that the game was effectively over as a contest by the time Rashid had bowled his first over. "It's always something we'll look at."

It was the latest installment in Rashid's unusual and underwhelming World Cup career, which is now 11 matches old. At 25, he already holds elite status as a white-ball bowler: at some stage next year, he will overtake Dwayne Bravo as the leading wicket-taker in T20 history. And yet, that success has generally eluded him in 50-over cricket.

In aggregate, his ODI record is superb: he has 174 wickets at 19.91 in 96 matches. But over 100 of those wickets have come against Ireland and Zimbabwe; in his dozen appearances against nations in the top six of ICC's rankings, he has taken only 13 at 44.30 each.

In T20, nobody has played Rashid better than Shane Watson. Watson faced 73 balls from Rashid across 11 matches, scored 108 runs and was never dismissed by him, most memorably scoring a match-winning century for Chennai Super Kings against Rashid's Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2018 IPL final.

Watson believes that Rashid's struggle to convert his T20 form into 50-over cricket owes to the specifics of the format: with only four fielders permitted outside the 30-yard circle in the middle overs of an ODI, he has less protection in the deep. "When batters feel like they need to take Rashid Khan on, that really does bring him into the game," Watson told ESPNcricinfo.

"With four people out, batters do not have to take a risk: they find it easy to be able to find the boundary or rotate the strike. Everyone knows that Rashid Khan is the major weapon for Afghanistan, so the game plan will always be around making sure they negate him. And if he gets it slightly wrong, there are low-risk boundary opportunities available with four men out."

When facing Rashid, Watson shifted his stance across so that he covered his off stump. "It was a bit like facing Shahid Afridi," he recalled, "because they're a lot faster through the air [than most wristspinners] and more direct… they're not really trying to get you out through flight, more from the ball skipping off the wicket.

"The ball where he gets most of his wickets is his wrong 'un… so I would set up to be able to hit the ball dead straight or into the leg side, with the ball mainly coming in. He's not a big turner of his legspinner. I thought, if I was on off stump, I was comfortable knowing that he wasn't really going to spin the ball past me on the outside of the bat."

Throughout their T20 encounters, Watson noticed that when Rashid went wicketless early in his spell, he would "start chasing wickets" by bowling fuller than his natural length. "He's going to try and bowl more miracle balls… try to bowl a bit slower, or a bit fuller, which means there are more scoring opportunities for the set batters."

That pattern played out on Wednesday night. After Rashid was cut for four by Rohit, his next ball was a fraction fuller and straighter, and was dispatched over the leg side for four more. His follow-up was a googly, targeting the stumps; Rohit swung it away over the leg side for six.

On Sunday, Rashid will come up against an England side who will look to put him under pressure. All of their batters have played with or against Rashid in international or franchise cricket; four years ago, they plundered 110 runs off his nine overs in Manchester, including 11 sixes.

It seems implausible that Shahidi will hold him back as long as he did against India - even if that decision fitted the general pattern of Rashid's ODI career, which has seen him bowl only two powerplay overs this year. "Once the ball has stopped swinging, I'd be getting him on," Watson said.

"Afghanistan has to take early wickets to try and get into the middle order, and he's absolutely their best wicket-taking opportunity. Even if it's just one or two overs in the powerplay, get him into the game early. You'd prefer to ask a few questions, compared to getting him into the game when it's nearly too far gone."

Rashid's schedule has been relentless this year - he has featured in six different franchise leagues - and he has been carrying a back niggle for several months. His status as Afghanistan's most prominent cricketer means that he cannot simply switch off when he is not playing.

This week, he announced that he would donate his match fees for this tournament to the relief effort following the devastating earthquake in Afghanistan, and his foundation has launched a fundraising campaign for its victims. Cricket can never be his sole focus - even during a World Cup.

And yet there are few sights in the sport that can bring more joy than Rashid at his best, grinning after beating a batter or wheeling away with his arms outstretched in celebration. Afghanistan will hope they prove to be the defining images of his 2023 World Cup.