Adil Rashid: Breaking down the numbers behind England’s one-day genius
Adil Rashid is England’s Mr Consistent – he’s rarely injured and almost never out of form.
Only Sri Lanka’s Kusal Mendis has played more one-day internationals since the 2015 World Cup, while in T20 internationals Rashid is eclipsed by only Pakistan’s Babar Azam and Ireland’s Paul Stirling in the same time frame.
Despite making his debut in both formats in 2009, it wasn’t until the 2015 rebuild under Morgan that Rashid became a fixture in the side – and he has taken more than 300 wickets in the decade since.
No other bowler in the world has taken more one-day wickets in that period, and the next three bowlers on the list – Rashid Khan, Adam Zampa and Kuldeep Yadav – are also leg-spinners.
There are bigger turners of the ball (Jeffrey Vandersay) and some get more drift (Yuzvendra Chahal), but none have the complete control and mastery of his art that Rashid offers.
He is the slowest of all the leg-spinners who have bowled 500 deliveries in ODIs in the past five years – which is a quite deliberate tactic.
“Some leg-spinners look to bowl it really quick, short of a length and don’t spin it as much,” Rashid told BBC Sport.
“Some, like myself, like to bowl it a bit slower to try and beat people in the flight and get the drift, dip and spin.
“With T20 cricket, people have started to bowl a bit quicker because they don’t want to get hit for sixes or fours but I’ve been brought up encouraged to get the ball above the eyeline, get the batsman driving, coming towards me and coming for me.”
