Adil Rashid picks White-ball cricket to improve his game

Adil Rashid only signed a white-ball contract with Yorkshire.

Adil Rashid with Trevor Bayliss | Sky Sports

England leg-spinner –Adil Rashid on Thursday made it clear that he just wants to focus only on white-ball cricket at the moment as he believes that he is enjoying it most and feel he can develop with it.

In the 2018 season, Rashid confirmed that he will not play first-class matches for Yorkshire, having signed a white-ball contract for the coming campaign, saying his decision will help him improve as a cricketer.

Although, the 29-year-old insists that he is not done with red-ball cricket, but skipped this summer so that he can concentrate on white ball cricket. England coach Trevor Bayliss is also backing him on this move.

As per Sport Star, Rashid said, “It's for this season coming and to see how it goes. At this moment in time in my career, I just feel that white-ball cricket is where I am best, enjoying it most and where I feel I can develop and offer a lot more. That was my main thought process.”

He further added, “It's not me saying I'm finished from the red ball, it's just me saying that this summer I'm going to concentrate on the white ball and see where that takes me. England and [head coach] Trevor Bayliss were happy with the decision I made and are backing me fully. I'll use as much of the time I have to work on my white-ball cricket and I'll just see where that takes me and what lies ahead.”

Commenting on his bold decision to not play the red-ball cricket for some time, the leg-spinner said, “It wasn't an easy decision to make but it's something I felt I had to do. If I was to go back to playing red-ball early in the season, a bit inside me would have said 'I'm just playing because I have to' but I had to make that decision and say 'no, I can't just go through the motions'.”

Rashid signed off by saying, “If I do just go through the motions, firstly I'd be letting the team down and I'd also be letting myself down because I wouldn't be giving 100 percent.  I've made the decision, this summer, to just concentrate on the white ball, something which makes me very happy and gives me the best chance of improving my cricket.”

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 16 Feb, 2018

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