Michael Vaughan Slams Adil Rashid's Inclusion In Test Squad

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has labelled the controversial recall of Adil Rashid to England’s Test squad as ‘ridiculous’.

Rashid was sensationally picked in the 13-man squad announced by England national selector Ed Smith on Thursday for the first Test against India.  England’s decision has left the country’s cricketing fraternity shell-shocked for obvious reasons.

The leg-spinner played the last of his 10 Test caps away to India in Chennai more than 18 months ago. Not only that, Rashid had also signed a contract with Yorkshire where he opted out of playing red-ball County Championship cricket this season. Playing in the Championship has long been the traditional pathway to Test selection. Not surprisingly, Rashid’s inclusion has caused outcry in England.

Former England captain Vaughan, who himself played for Yorkshire, blasted the decision on his twitter page.

“So we have picked someone who cannot be arsed with 4 day cricket for the Test Team … Forget whether he is good enough or not I find this decision ridiculous … !!!,” Vaughan wrote.

So we have picked someone who cannot be arsed with 4 day cricket for the Test Team … Forget whether he is good enough or not I find this decision ridiculous … !!!

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) July 26, 2018

England took the controversial decision after Rashid’s impressive show in the ODIs against India. The spinner finished the three-match series with six wickets with the most impressive display coming in the final ODI.

He had taken three wickets to help England restrict India to a modest 256. The highlight of the show was obviously the ball that left Virat Kohli perplexed. The delivery was reminiscent of the Ball of the Century Shane Warne bowled to Mike Gatting in 1993.

Rashid has played ten Tests so far, taking 38 wickets. His Test career came to an abrupt end when he was not picked for the previous Ashes despite being the highest wicket-taker on the Test tour of Bangladesh and India in 2016-17.

Meanwhile, the five-Test series gets underway in Birmingham on August 1.