AFTER TAMING KOHLI, RASHID IS BACK ON THE RADAR FOR TEST RECALL

England have not given up on bringing adil Rashid back to Test cricket to face India this summer after he bamboozled the best batsman in the world, Virat Kohli, with a wonderball during Tuesday’s oneday victory at Headingley.

Sportsmail understands new national selector Ed Smith will talk to Rashid about his controversial decision, made earlier this year, to give up on all red-ball cricket — a move that has led to a strained relationship with his county, Yorkshire. Certainly the look of sheer astonishment on Kohli’s face after he was bowled by what must be one of the best balls he has ever faced from a spinner might be replaced by one of utter relief if Rashid does not appear in the fiveTest series. Rashid’s contentious call to turn his back on red-ball cricket has not only had ramifications for his Yorkshire career, but also appeared to have ruled out a return to the ultimate form of the game. England are not exactly blessed with quality spin bowlers and would surely love to have Rashid back for the first Test against India, and their expert players of slow bowling, at Edgbaston on august 1. as it stands, Jack leach is the favourite to be England’s sole spinner in the first Test with competition from his Somerset teammate dominic Bess and Moeen ali, who was dropped from the Test team after a disastrous winter. Rashid can be defensive with the media and was a little prickly on Tuesday when asked at Headingley if it was a shame that Yorkshire’s spectators were being denied the chance to see him in the Roses match next week, let alone see him playing Test cricket again. ‘all I am saying is that for now I am concentrating solely on white-ball cricket,’ said Rashid, who is in the best form of his life for England as his ‘ball of the century’ to Kohli showed. It is a mantra he keeps on repeating and one he seems determined to stick to. That decision, coupled with his controversial call to miss Yorkshire’s championship

decider against Middlesex at Lord’s in 2016, has led to a difficult relationship with coach Andrew Gale — a disagreement that could see him leave the county. Yorkshire asked Rashid to reconsider his stance ahead of the Roses match and when he refused they signed Warwickshire leg-spinner Josh Poysden on loan for a single match. The message could not be clearer. Yorkshire have offered the Bradford-born Rashid a new contract, but it remains on the table and the talk in cricket is that he wants to join his friend Moeen at Worcestershire — on a white-ball contract only, of course. It should be remembered that Rashid was never quite the same bowler in Test cricket, even though he took 23 wickets in what became his final Test series in India 18 months ago. Kohli, for instance, played him pretty much with ease. England were believed to have put a line under Rashid’s name at Test level after that tour because it was felt he did not respond as well in the longer game without the safely net of the defensive fields he can set when players go after him in white-ball cricket. And Rashid could easily argue that it has been his ability to focus solely on the limited-overs game that has helped him become the outstanding bowler in an England side that has won seven of nine 50-over matches this summer. But he has grown in stature as a bowler during his absence from the Test team and it just seems such a shame that, still young for a leg-spinner at 30, he is limiting his own impact and potential. Smith looked outside the box and picked Jos Buttler for the Test series against Pakistan solely on whiteball form and it is fascinating that he now believes it is worth trying to talk Rashid out of his self-imposed exile. Rashid appears resolutely not for turning, but if Smith’s persuasive tongue makes him think otherwise it will surely increase England’s chances of defeating India. Kohli for one would certainly be pleased not to see Rashid at Edgbaston.