T20 World Cup: England’s top leg-spinner Adil Rashid said he is targeting more silverware in ICC tournaments, saying he will not be satisfied with just two World Cup triumphs, and wishes to have three, four, or five trophy-winning campaigns overall.
Rashid took 1-25 in the second T20I against Pakistan at Edgbaston, which England won by 23 runs and could face them in the fourth T20 at The Oval. His next assignment will be England’s T20 World Cup title defence in the West Indies from June 1.
“As long as I’m fit enough and hungry enough, I’ll keep going. I don’t just want to be satisfied with two World Cups. I have the dream and the vision of three, four, and five World Cups. Remember, you only get one shot at this career so if England want me and need me, I’m here. It could be five years. It could be one year. The aim is to play as long as possible,” Rashid told Daily Mail newspaper.
He also said England’s supporters can be optimistic of the side successfully defending their T20 World Cup title. “It’s a different format and one we became world champions in less than two years ago. We’ve got 15 match-winners and I believe it’s a stronger squad than when we won in 2022. Jofra Archer is back and that’s a big part.”
England’s title defence of their ODI World Cup title didn’t go as per the plan, losing six out of nine league matches in India to miss the knockouts. “There was no beef or anything going on in camp. We just weren’t playing good cricket and lacked confidence,” he recalled.
Rashid also stated that if not for Eoin Morgan’s trust in him to get him back into the England team in 2015, after being out for six years, he wonders what would have happened. Rashid was the main player in England’s white-ball revolution which saw them win the 2019 ODI World Cup and later, the 2022 T20 World Cup, under Jos Buttler’s leadership.
“When I started with England, I remember thinking, “I can’t get hit for boundaries here”. You’d look up and see the captain grabbing his head, huffing and puffing and all that. With Morgan, it was the opposite. As a young ’un, it broke my confidence down and that was a big part of my Test career early on too.”
“With Cooky, he was a great player but I found his captaincy personally challenging. My Test journey was difficult. I only played under Cooky and Rooty. Rooty was a lot better in terms of handling spin bowling. Now, leggies know it’s OK to bowl bad balls and get smashed for six.
“The ultimate aim is to get wickets and captains get that. It’s come a long way in realising leg-spinners are your match-winners. We only had that shift in 2015 under Morgs. When you see Stokes, you see the confidence he puts in the spinners.”
“It’s OK to go at four, five, and over because your aim is to create chances. That whole environment makes you want to play. Knowing that the captain and you are on the same page is a big one. Back then it was about keeping it tight. Now, English cricket is about expressing yourself,” he concluded.
