BIRMINGHAM: England’s star leg-spinner Adil Rashid is ready to take on Babar Azam’s Pakistan when the green shirts visit England next month.
The four match T20I series is set to take place in second half of May when Pakistan will visit England, en route USA, to begin their campaign in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in June.
Bradford-born Adil Rashid is currently not only England’s number one leg spinner in the shorter formats of the game but also ranked as number one T20I bowler in the world according to the latest ICC rankings.
Speaking exclusively to Geo News, Adil Rashid, who’s parents are of Pakistan/Kashmiri origin, said that Pakistan is a very good team and also have a huge fan base in England but his team is also fully prepared to take on them.
“We are fully prepared and ready to face Pakistan team. They are very good team, they got experience and some very explosive players. They always enjoyed big support specially in Birmingham and Leeds so the crowd will be big. We were looking forward to it,” he said.
Adil Rashid is not only a huge admirer of Pakistani skipper Babar Azam’s batting but also enjoys bowling to him and has got him out few times in international cricket, most recently during the final of T20 World Cup in 2022 at MCG.
“I enjoy bowling to everybody as a bowler you have to be careful against each player. But I especially enjoy bowling to Babar Azam because he's a class player. He is one of the best batters in the world. He’s not only a good player of spin but equally a good player against pacers too. It happens in cricket as it’s the part and parcel of this game and sometimes I might get him out. Hopefully when he comes here, I will try to get him out again,” he said.
England, who won the last T20 World Cup when they beat Pakistan in the finals at Australia’s iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2022, are set to defend their T20 world champion’s title.
Adil Rashid is hopeful that his team can and will successfully defend the title as they have got the mindset and manpower to do so.
“Inshallah, we will defend it and that’s our mindset right now. We're going into the World Cup with the mindset that we will be trying to retain the title and win it again. We have got the team, the squad in place and the mindset. We're gonna go out there (USA-West Indies) and take one step at a time and hopefully we will go all the way,” he said.
Rashid played a big role first in helping England won their first ever ICC men’s ODI Cricket World Cup in 2019 at Lords under Eoin Morgan and then in 2022 the ICC men’s T20 World Cup under Jos Buttler’s leadership. He thinks that, although, the leadership has changed but the winning mindset of the team has also transitioned as both Morgan and Buttler had huge experience of playing all around the world.
“In 2019 and 2022 we had two different captains in Eoin Morgan and Buttler both with completely different mindset but our aim is going into that World Cup with winning mindset under Jos Buttler. He’s played all around the world and with his experience he does things differently and know how to handle pressure in different situations. It was the same with Eoin Morgan too so it's just a transition from 2019 till now, it’s a transition of our mindsets from then till now hopefully we can do the same thing,” he said.
For the past few years Adil Rashid, along with Moeen Ali, have become a role model for the young English cricketers of Pakistani origin and that makes Adil feels proud.
“Alhmadolilah, very proud of myself to come all this way, but now also being in that lime light where you are a role model for the next generation. Now you see in England a lot more spinners coming through so it's a great sign the youngsters are trying to ball leg spin or off-spin more often. Hopefully they now can come through and make it all the way as well,” he concluded.