Adil Usman Rashid (born 17 February 1988) is an English cricketer who plays for England in One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, and previously played for the Test team. In domestic cricket, he represents Yorkshire, and has played in multiple Twenty20 leagues. He is regarded as one of the best limited overs English spinners of all time.
Rashid made his ODI and T20I debuts in 2009, and played for the Test team between 2015 and 2019. He was part of the England teams that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup and 2022 T20 World Cup.
Rashid plays as a right-arm leg break bowler. He is England's highest wicket-taker among spin bowlers in both ODIs and T20Is, and England's highest wicket-taker in T20Is. He surpassed the previous record held by Chris Jordan, who has 108 wickets. Along with Jos Buttler, he holds the world record for highest seventh-wicket stand in ODIs: 177 against New Zealand in 2015. In 2023 Rashid was named an MBE in King Charles III's Birthday honours list.
Background Rashid was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire on 17 February 1988, and is of Pakistani descent. Like his England teammate Moeen Ali, he belongs to the Mirpuri community, his family having migrated to England in 1967 from Mirpur, Kashmir.
His brothers Haroon and Amar are also cricketers.
Early career
Early promise Rashid showed promise from a young age: Terry Jenner spotted him as a 14-year-old, and, in early July 2005, aged 17, he took 6–13 for Yorkshire's Academy (youth) team. A few days later he hit 111 for Yorkshire Cricket Board Under-17s against their Cheshire equivalents in the Under-17s County Championship.
In 2006, he played a number of games for Yorkshire Second XI, making four successive centuries. This form, combined with a calf injury to Darren Lehmann, earned him the chance to make his first-class debut.
2006: County debut and youth Tests Rashid made his county cricket debut against Warwickshire at North Marine Road, Scarborough, as a replacement for injured overseas batsman Darren Lehmann. In the second innings he bowled a magnificent 6/67 to rip through Warwickshire's middle order and win the match for Yorkshire. Rashid was then included in the England Under-19s Test squad for their series against India Under-19s. Making his debut for the side in the first Test at Canterbury, he scored 13 and 23 runs and took one wicket. In the second Test, at Taunton, he produced a dominant all-round display, scoring 114 and 48 and claiming 8/157 and 2/45. He also played in the third Test at the Denis Compton Oval in Shenley, but made less of an impression, only taking three wickets and scoring 15 and 12 runs.
From mid-August until the end of the season, he held down a regular spot in the Yorkshire side. He continued to impress, taking 4/96 against Middlesex at Scarborough and scoring 63, his maiden first-class half-century, against Nottinghamshire at Headingley as part of a fourth-wicket stand of 130 with Craig White to dig Yorkshire out of a hole from 42/3 before helping to bowl out Nottinghamshire's tail to win the match for Yorkshire. Rashid also featured in a two-day "spin match" held by the England and Wales Cricket Board, a programme which would simulate different match-based scenarios to develop young spin bowlers.
2007: Young Player of the Year During the winter, Rashid suffered from a stress fracture in his back and missed England Under-19s' tour of Malaysia, but he recovered well enough to be picked for the 2006–07 England A tour of Bangladesh. Despite unimpressive performances, he was tipped by Yorkshire teammate Jason Gillespie to play international cricket for England in the future.
Rashid started the English summer at Lord's, playing for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against the 2006 champion county, Sussex. In his County Championship game of the season, at The Oval against Surrey a few days later, he hit 86 in the first innings, putting on 190 with Jacques Rudolph for the sixth wicket. This established a new partnership record for the sixth wicket for Yorkshire against Surrey, surpassing a mark that had stood since 1902. At the end of April he continued to impress with bowling figures of 5/88 against Durham at Headingley. Due to his form he was picked to play for England Lions in a tour match against India.
Rashid was considered to play for England's Under-19 side again in their series against Pakistan, but his Yorkshire coach Martyn Moxon showed displeasure at the idea of Rashid being pulled away from county cricket. The selectors decided that as Rashid had progressed to the next level of cricket, having appeared for England Lions, and therefore he shouldn't be pulled out of county cricket to play for England Under-19s. In continuing to play county cricket, he scored his maiden first-class century, 108 against Worcestershire at Kidderminster, and another half-century against Warwickshire.
Over the course of the 2007 English cricket season, Rashid scored 837 with a batting average of 44.05 and took 43 wickets with a bowling average of 42.16 across all first-class matches. He took the most wickets of any Yorkshire player and scored the fourth-most runs. He won several awards in 2007 for his strong form. In June 2007 he won both the YCCSA Young Player of the Year Award for 2006 and the Neil Lloyd Young Cricketer of the Year Award for 2006. On 9 September Rashid was named 2007 Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year, while on 24 September he was awarded the title of PCA Young Player of the Year.
In October 2007, Rashid was named in the "England Performance Programme squad", to train at home and in India during the 2007–08 winter.
2008: First tour with national team
In January 2008, Rashid was named in the England Lions squad for the 2007–08 Duleep Trophy in India. He played two games for the tournament and took six wickets. For the second season in a row he was also named in the Marylebone Cricket Club squad to play against the champion county, this time Sussex. He also retained his place in the England Performance Programme squad.
There was concern early in the season that Rashid's bowling was losing some of its variety as it seemed his batting was taking precedence, Retrieved on 4 December 2008. but he then took career-best bowling figures of 7/107 against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl. He followed this up with hauls of 5/95 against Lancashire and 7/136 against Sussex. Rashid finished the season with 62 wickets, Yorkshire's leading wicket-taker for the second year in a row.
At the end of the year, Rashid was included in the English national team for their tour of India, though he wasn't expected to play any matches, only being on the tour for the experience. He was then included in England's squad for their following tour of the West Indies, where he was part of England's team for a tour match against a Saint Kitts and Nevis team. National selector Geoff Miller, described Rashid's selection at the age of 20 in the following terms:
Early international call-ups 2009: World Twenty20 and ODI debut
Rashid was again included in the England Lions team for a tour match against the West Indies, and he had a good all-round performance, scoring 72 runs in England Lions' first innings and taking 3/66 in the West Indies' second innings. Despite not being included in Yorkshire's side for their first two Twenty20 matches of the season, Rashid's form saw him called up to the national team for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 as an injury replacement for Andrew Flintoff. In England's first warm-up match for the tournament against Scotland, Rashid appeared nervous, but in their second warm-up match against the West Indies he appeared more settled and took 1/20 from his 4 overs. During the tournament itself he had impressive performances against Pakistan and the West Indies, and he finished the tournament with 3 wickets at an average of 31.66 and with an economy of 7.30 runs per over from his 4 matches.
Following his World Twenty20 appearances, he was included in England's training squad for the 2009 Ashes series against Australia, thought to be a potential replacement for the out-of-form Monty Panesar, but instead of playing a warm-up game with the England XI he played with England Lions again in a tour match against Australia. He was left out of England's final squad for the Ashes and instead returned to playing county cricket with Yorkshire. Rashid scored his career-best 117 not out and later on helped Yorkshire to bowl Hampshire out with figures of 5/41. He then went on to better that against Lancashire, scoring an unbeaten 157 and taking 5/97 in the first innings. The feat of scoring a century and taking a five-for in a match was the third of his career; the last player to have achieved the feat twice in a season for Yorkshire was George Hirst back in 1911.
Rashid made his One Day International debut for England on 27 August 2009 against Ireland. He scored 7 runs and had bowling figures of 1/16 in a narrow win. He kept his place in the side for the 1st ODI against Australia, and he was the best of England's bowlers, only conceding 37 runs from his 10 overs. He followed this up with a quickfire 31 not out from just 23 balls with the bat to almost get England across the line in a tight finish. He impressed Australians Michael Clarke and James Hopes with his strong performance, but he was shockingly omitted from the English side for the next match. He did return for two more matches during the series, but finished with only 2 wickets at an average of 74.
2009–10: South Africa and Pakistan A
Rashid completely supplanted Monty Panesar in the England side, being named as the back-up to Graeme Swann for both the Test and ODI squads in their tour of South Africa. He played in the second Twenty20 International between the sides, but was only used for one over in which he conceded 25 runs, after which South Africa's coach Mickey Arthur criticized the English side for not showing enough faith in Rashid's ability. Due to an injury to Swann, Rashid was brought back into the side for the 2nd ODI, but he bowled an expensive three overs, conceding 27 runs, and was dropped once Swann was fit again. He was then dropped from South Africa's ODI squad altogether for the rest of the series, instead playing four-day matches with the England Performance Programme. Meanwhile, offspinner James Tredwell remained on stand-by to potentially play, indicating that Rashid had dropped down the pecking order. His poor form continued in the England Performance Programme matches, and though he re-joined the main squad ahead of the Test series he did not play in any Test matches.
Following the poor tour for Rashid, he was left out of England's squad for their tour of Bangladesh, instead being sent to the United Arab Emirates to play for England Lions against Pakistan A. His time in the UAE was somewhat more successful than his time in South Africa, and he took 3/13 in the second Twenty20 against Pakistan A to secure a series win for England Lions. After the Twenty20 series against Pakistan A, England Lions also played a Twenty20 against the main England team and Rashid helped cause a shock upset win with another strong bowling performance of 3/22.
Continued domestic career
2010–11: Overlooked by national selectors; Big Bash