ENG vs IND: Alastair Cook terms Adil Rashid as an obvious selection

Amidst all the criticism that surrounded Adil Rashid and his subsequent selection for the Test series against India, former England skipper and their current Test opener Alastair Cook terms his selection as an obvious call. The selection became the talk of the town after Rashid was inducted in the 13-man squad for the Test series even after he had not played any red-ball cricket at the highest level since December 2016.

His selection saw many ex-England cricketers raise fingers on a peculiar call by the selectors, as the leg-spinner is serving his county at Yorkshire only with a white ball contract. While Cook saw this as a brave call from the selectors given his performances in recently concluded ODI series against the men in blue.

Rashid still needs to play more red-ball cricket

Cook came in Rashid’s defense citing reasons how he has matured as a cricketer and has the ability to cop up with the criticism doing the rounds on his selection in the Test squad. He was a convinced man on Adil’s inclusion in the side as his performances in the limited overs series forms a basis for his Test recall after a gap of more than 18 months.

“The way Adil has been playing and bowling for the one-dayers, it seemed quite an obvious selection,” Cook said.

However, the 33-years old felt that selectors were apt to mention that the spinner needs to play more red-ball cricket from hereon to get a further go in the Test side. “Obviously, Ed Smith [chief selector] says he needs to be playing red-ball cricket [to be selected in future] and I think that’s right. But sometimes in exceptional circumstances, selection goes a different way than you would like and obviously Ed and the selectors have made a brave call.”

The onus is now on Rashid after he has got the backing from the selectors and his former skipper, who nicely defended his selection at the pre-match conference. It would be fascinating to see Rashid if given an opportunity, succumbs under pressure or blossoms to allow all the criticism to be kept at rest.

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