Much like all their bowlers, England spinner Adil Rashid also bowled a second-rate spell against New Zealand in ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 tournament opener at the Narendra Modi Stadium yesterday. In general, Rashid’s ODI record in India is far from impressive. However, in a conversation on ESPNCricinfo Hindi, veteran India spinner Piyush Chawla has predicted that the future of England in this World Cup lies in Rashid’s performance.
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England’s solitary specialist white-ball spinner for quite a few years now, Rashid is yet to crack the ODI code in a country which has a lot to offer for spinners. While Rashid’s T20I numbers in India are still acceptable, he is yet to leave a mark when it comes to the other limited-overs format of international cricket.
Rashid, who hasn’t played a first-class match since 2019, has a golden opportunity to prove Chawla’s prediction right as a winning formula on his part will aid England in defending the title in spite of an embarrassing outing on Thursday.
Adil Rashid Will Decide England’s Future In 2023 World Cup As Per Piyush Chawla
Part of a team which had lifted the World Cup in India and a leg-spinner himself, Chawla is an apt individual to share an opinion on Rashid. A primary reason why Chawla believes Rashid will have to turn the tables for his team is their lack of options in this department.
“[Adil] Rashid will decide England’s future in the tournament. England don’t have too many options as Liam Livingstone is not a full-time bowler. The team will have to back him,” Chawla said on ESPNCricinfo Hindi.
Other than Rashid, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone and Joe Root are the other spin-bowling options for the double world champions. While Ali is a reliable candidate who represents Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League, Livingstone is yet to achieve the status of an all-rounder in spite of bowling consistently for the team during a title-winning ICC T20 World Cup 2022 campaign.
Root, on the other hand, has been a handy off-spinner in Test cricket. That said, he has hardly bowled in white-ball formats at the highest level in the recent years.
Piyush Chawla Tries To Explain Rationale Behind Adil Rashid’s Poor ODI Record In India
Whilst throwing light on the reasons behind Chawla’s poor ODI record in India, Chawla mostly reflected on his IPL record. He revealed how the bowlers in England are asked to flight the ball. Chawla further explained how bowlers, who reduce the speed of the ball to achieve a higher trajectory, are smashed by Indian batters due to the additional time on offer.
“Rashid’s stats are not great because he has bowled here in the IPL and it is not easy to bowl in that tournament because you are facing the cream. In any case, Indian batters are always searching for flighted deliveries to hit boundaries.”
It is worth of a mention that it is slightly unfair to judge Rashid based on his IPL performances because he has hardly played in the cash-rich league. While Rashid’s first IPL stint for Punjab Kings had come outside of India, his second stint for Sunrisers Hyderabad saw him playing only a couple of IPL 2023 matches in India. All in all, Rashid had picked two wickets for 56 runs across seven overs earlier this year.
Despite being one of the best spinners around, Rashid has remained unsold in IPL auctions primarily because of the fact that franchises tend to avoid overseas spinners who don’t bat due to the presence of a plethora of Indian options available with them.
Speaking particularly of ODIs, Rashid has played just five matches in India where he has scalped three wickets at an average and economy of 103 and 7.54 respectively. Although the 35-year old player had made his ODI debut way back in 2009, he had played only a handful of matches till 2015.
Since returning to international cricket eight years ago, Rashid has been part of the English squads on tours of India both times in 2017 and 2021. With this being his fourth tour of India across formats at the highest level, Rashid would be keen to contribute in a grand manner.
