S Poddar
Adil Rashid marks a glorious milestone when he achieved his 200th wicket in the One Day Internationals. He dismissed Glenn Maxwell at Headingley on September 21, 2024, during the second ODI against Australia. Despite yet another defeat in what has been an agonizingly tough series against the Australians, the manner in which Rashid once more stakes his claim of excellence, with yet greater brilliance than yesterday, tells volumes of the sport in him.
At 36 years of age, Rashid is not still yet ready to put down, and news of him considering retirement has been ruled out. He accepts the team’s troubling form, losing ten out of their last fourteen ODIs, but he indeed thinks England can do better. Ahead of the next game at Chester-le-Street, the leg-spinner is aware of his part as he looks forward to allowing himself to play and add towards the success of England in the future. I haven’t thought about it [retirement] yet,” Rashid said, “I would like to play, enjoy the game and stay fit.” His focus is on supporting his team in upcoming tournaments like the Champions Trophy and the World Cups- big events on the cricket calendar. Rashid’s stint in the England team has, of course, been alongside a transfer of phases for the team.
With so many of their senior players absent, starting with captain Jos Buttler but including most of the rest of their more experienced brigades, the side – overseen by acting coach Marcus Trescothick en route to a new regime under Brendon McCullum – was touted to be rebooted. Still, this turn of events has not been an easy one: defeats suggest the team is still finding its way around. Despite all this, Rashid’s experience and skill stand him in good stead as a significant player for the future of the limited-overs format that England can look to years ahead. He is eager to grab these opportunities, hoping to be involved as they work their way through the building disaster of rebuilding the side from scratch. An extra burden has now fallen on Rashid’s shoulders with the retirement of Moeen Ali.
As one who has been around for years with Moeen, Rashid is bound to feel the effect of losing a close friend and confidant, on or off the field. The departure of Moeen is not merely personal; it leaves a vacuum in the side that Rashid is expected to fill. Under Moeen’s retirement from the game, Rashid finds himself under strong responsibility: he has to guide and mentor the youngsters, especially aspiring spinners, who would constitute the team into the future. “I wanted to pass on my knowledge and experiences; be it technical skill or psychological approaches to the game,” he explained. Rashid, of course, has started living with that new role; and along the way, he has worked with some young talent in Rehan Ahmed and Jafer Chohan. He understands the competition nature of the game-the healthy rivalry that exists between those emerging players. “That’s the ultimate aim. Whatever I’ve got in terms of experience, form, ups and downs, the knowledge I have, I can pass that on,” he said. It was also crisscrossed with regular selections and the resultant opportunities-the years before the 2019 World Cup, when he played 76 out of the total possible 81 ODIs, for instance. Such consistency is important for the grooming of talent, which is not as plentiful in this generation as it was in the previous ones due to the rigours required of modern-day cricket.
England too needed a bit of revival as it was coming out from the recent setbacks. Rashid would be a leading mentor in guiding them properly.
The team needs to course correct the lost path from their poor showings in the ODI and T20I formats and Rashid is here and ready to lead them on their journey to a good recovery in the world of international cricket. Team work spirit, hard work and resilience characterize Rashid as he continues to be committed to contributing much to England’s efforts, showing that there is much more yet to come from him on the field.
