Adil Rashid set to be World Twenty20 hit after Big Bash success

Rashid returned from England’s series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates with mixed emotions

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If the England hierarchy were equivocal about Adil Rashid’s potential worth to English cricket, then the leg-spinner’s star turn in the Big Bash may have made up a few minds.

Rashid returned from England’s series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates with mixed emotions about his first, at times tentative-looking, steps into the Test arena.

A five-wicket haul in the second innings of the first match in Abu Dhabi – a spell which saw him become the first English leggie since 1959 to achieve the feat – provided him with a perfect platform. His three wickets for 329 in the remaining two matches in Dubai and Sharjah suggested that he, like this England side, was still very much a work in progress.

Recent events in Australia would now indicate that the 27-year-old is one of world cricket’s quickest learners. His Adelaide Strikers side may have exited the tournament in limp fashion against Sydney Thunder on Thursday but Rashid, who flew back to England on Friday, has been little short of sensational.

With the Big Bash final taking place at the MCG this morning, only Clint Mackay has taken more wickets that Rashid’s 16 scalps, while only four bowlers can boast a better economy rate. If the competition was a dress rehearsal for the World T20 in India in March then Rashid is in fine voice and looking unlikely to fluff his lines.

“What a tournament for him, he was phenomenal for us,” said the Strikers coach, Jason Gillespie. “You guys see what he does on the field, we see a bit more than that. We see what he does away from the cameras, at training and the way he works with his team-mates. He’s just a very good team man. The lads all line up for throw-downs from him because he loves throwing cricket balls at the lads, which you don’t see from too many overseas players.

“Adil has played some international cricket, he has played Test cricket, he has played all forms of cricket at various stages for England. Coming out here, playing for the Strikers, he has been an absolute revelation.”

Few could argue with that statement and even fewer could dispute that Gillespie is a man with a proven track record of getting the best out of an all-rounder who clearly has plenty more to offer his country across all formats.

Gillespie coached Yorkshire to back-to-back County Championship triumphs in the past two season and Rashid has played a full role in both. Little wonder that Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire’s director of cricket, believes Rashid couldn’t have been in better hands over the past month.

“Dizzy keeps it simple, he just tells Adil to spin it as hard as he can,” Moxon said. “I think [the Big Bash] will give him a massive amount of confidence, you can see that in the way he’s playing.

“It could be a huge step forward for him wherever he plays but particularly on the international stage. He has been playing in front of a global audience, in front of big crowds and he has pretty much looked like he belongs there. He has got an immense amount of talent and the more he plays at international level the better he is going to get.

“It wasn’t a total disaster by any means in the UAE. I spoke to him once on the phone [on his return from that series] and he was pretty upbeat, he said that he had learnt a lot from those Tests against players who are very good against spin. It was a tough baptism but he certainly wasn’t deterred by that – if anything he has been inspired by it.”

With England coach Trevor Bayliss likely to receive ringing endorsements of Rashid from his compatriots in the Big Bash, the leg-spinner’s career could be about to take off. From the Big Bash to a big smash, 2016 could be Rashid’s year.