England leg-spinner Adil Rashid, having been picked as part of the squad for the first Test against India after earlier announcing his retirement from red-ball cricket, has said that it was a really tough decision to make himself available again for selection in the game's toughest format.
Adil, who last played a Test match in December 2016 against India (at Chennai), was recalled for his recent exploits in ODIs where he got 20 wickets against Australia and India at an average of 23.95.
Talking about his return to Sky Sports, the 30-year-old said, "It was definitely a tough decision and obviously I was kind of surprised because to get back in the Test side usually people have to go back to your county and perform to be considered, After the ODIs there was a discussion that me and Ed (selector Ed Smith) had, just regarding - you know - how you feel about playing, or being part of the squad, this summer against India."
"So obviously I had to think about it, considering I hadn't played red-ball game for a little while; but this opportunity I couldn't buy at it - I had to think about it and make a decision. I said 'I'll make myself available' and if you guys want to select me in the squad then I'll come and try my best."
Having now made it back, Adil looks forward to it, "My role, hopefully, going into the team would be as it was for the ODIs and T20s - as how Morgan (Eoin Morgan) uses me. It will be exactly the same but with a red ball,"
"It will be to come in and try to take wickets, create chances - that'll be your job because if you do play two spinners, the other spinner can maybe look to keep it under twos or threes and my job will be to create the chances and hopefully get wickets."
He also expressed that he'll take a call on his future for Yorkshire after discussing with the various administrators and stakeholder and said, "Going back to Yorkshire that's something we need to sit down and discuss about the future. But for now obviously Yorkshire have got the news and from there Yorkshire, England and myself are dealing with the situation as it is, Moving forward, I know that if I want to be available for Test cricket, I need to be playing red-ball cricket. When that time comes I'm sure we'll sit down and make a decision. If the opportunity is there, then I'll try my best to play four-day cricket as well."
"I've been here [Yorkshire] now since I was 10 years old so this is home for me; you know how things can change but hopefully we've got to sit down with Martyn Moxon and myself and my dad, and whoever, and have a chat about the future because things and people's mindsets and feelings always change as they go on, so let's see what happens."
The five-match Test series starts with the first game in Edgbaston beginning August 1.
(Inputs from PTI)
