Published: Feb 18, 2016, 06:45 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 18, 2016, 06:45 PM (IST)
Born February 17, 1988, Adil Usman Rashid is an English cricketer who is a canny leg-spinner and a decent batsman in the lower middle-order. Rashid’s all-round abilities are well-known in the domestic circuit, where he is a mainstay for Yorkshire. His consistent performances have earned him an England call-up and the cricket pundits are already expecting of him that he repeats his County cricket heroics for England in the international circuit. A wily leg-spinner, who has done wonders with the bat as well in domestic matches, turned 28 on Wednesday. On this occasion, Suraj Choudhari pens down 12 lesser-known facts about the rising star of English cricket.
1. Roots in Pakistan: Rashid was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England but is of Pakistani origin. Just like his England teammate Moeen Ali, his roots too are in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan from where his family migrated to England.
2. Cricketing family: Rashid belongs to a family of cricketers, as his brothers Amar Rashid and Haroon Rashid have played the gentlemen’s game at competitive level.
3. Alluring First-Class debut: Rashid made an impact in his First-Class debut for Yorkshire against Warwickshire in 2006 at Scarborough. He accounted for six scalps to leave everyone stunned with his guile and artful leg-spin.
4. Terry Jenner: Rashid was coached by Australian cricketer Terry Jenner as a part of an England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) programme to promote wrist-spinners.
5. Spotted: Rashid made a name for himself with consistent performances in the domestic circuit and in 2006 he was considered as the most talented young leg-spinner in the country by ECB coach David Parsons.
6. Magnificent run in Under-19 against India: Rashid attracted enormous eyeballs for his fantastic run in U-19 matches against India in 2006. He scored a scintillating century and picked eight wickets to make the headlines.
7. Remodelled his action: Unfortunately Rashid suffered a stress fracture due to which he had to rework on his action in his early days.
8. Included in the Test side: Rashid’s prolific run in the County Championship in 2008, where he had 62 wickets in his basket, chiselled his path in the England’s Test side for a series in India but his time hadn’t come by then and he had to wait for his Test debut.
9. England debut: Rashid had 31 wickets at an average of 36.06 and 545 runs with the bat at a staggering average of 68.12 in the 2009 First-Class season. Though his run in the shorter formats were decent, he still made it to the English Twenty20 (T20) side and made his international debut in World T20 game against Netherlands on June 5, 2009 at Lord’s. The same year, he made his One-Day International (ODI) debut as well.
10. Scripted history: In 2011, Rashid scripted history with his effective leg-spin when he chipped in with figures of 6 for 77 and 5 for 37 against Worcestershire which is also the best numbers in the history of Yorkshire for a leggie.
11. Fantastic Test debut: Rashid made his opportunity count on his delayed Test debut when he ripped through the Pakistani batting line-up in his maiden outing in whites. It was the first Test of Pakistan vs England Test series 2015 in Abu Dhabi when Rashid injected life in the dull Test with his five-wicket haul in the second innings and gave his side a winning chance as England had a target of just 99 runs. Unfortunately for them, bad light played the spoilsport and the match ended in a draw.
12. Awards: Rashid has won quite a few awards in his short career so far. He was honoured as Young Cricketer of the Year by Cricket Writers’ Club in 2007 when he slammed his maiden Championship ton against Worcestershire. He has also been awarded with the Neil Lloyd Young Cricketer of the Year Award and the YCCSA Young Player of the Year Award for the year 2006.
(Suraj Choudhari, an avid cricket follower who plays the sport at club level, is a staffer with Criclife)
