Rashid’s eye on white ball not talk of Test return
Adil Rashid is happy to embrace the new challenge of opening the bowling in England’s Twenty20 side, but seems more unlikely than ever to return to the Test arena after admitting the idea “hasn’t even crossed my mind”.
The Yorkshire leg-spinner played the last of his 19 Tests in January 2019, initially stepping away to protect a shoulder injury, and appears increasingly content happy with the life of limited-overs specialist.
An in-form Rashid would be a major boost to Joe Root’s red-ball spin attack, which had its shortcomings exposed in the recent series against India, but for now he is exclusively available to white-ball skipper Eoin Morgan.
Morgan pulled a surprising move by asking Rashid to kick off with the new ball in Friday’s first T20, a role he settled into with aplomb as he set the tone for a conclusive win with two tidy overs and the wicket of India skipper Virat Kohli for a duck.
Such successes inevitably invite speculation over a Test comeback in time for this winter’s Ashes. “I have no idea about that. It hasn’t even crossed my mind, Test cricket or the Ashes,” Rashid said.
“It’s a long way away, a lot can happen. I’m not thinking about that whatsoever. I don’t really think about that stuff, I think we have to see what happens closer to the time.
“With the shoulder injury, it’s been about a year now, it’s got better but it’s something I’ve got to look after. I don’t know if I can bowl those long spells of 15, 20, 30 overs in a day. That’s something that needs to be weighed and it’s also my mindset; at the moment I’m enjoying my whiteball cricket.”