“I never expected to be a local celebrity it was completely unexpected.”
Bradford Superstar Adil Rashid returned back to the city after winning the 2019 World Cup and was immediately mobbed with love and affection by his local community.
Rashid who has spent his whole life living in Bradford explains how vital Bradford has been to his success with Yorkshire and England over the years, “Bradford has been so important to me it’s always been there for me, this is my home, its where I’m from, its where all it all started for me. I feel at home here.”
The leg-spinner who started his journey at Yorkshire in 2008 with a trial where after a strong start Rashid was offered a professional contract at the club. “I made my way up the age groups, the club felt that I was good enough to represent the County in the future, their always kept their faith in me.”
“In order to play for the First-Team you have to be consistent in your performances and showcase all your skills as well as taking in the feedback from all of the coaches. It’s a process you have to trust, and it isn’t an overnight process to get into the First-Team.”
As the countdown to the T20 World Cup is nearly over, 2019 One Day International World Cup winner Adil Rashid talks about England’s chances in becoming double World Champions.
England are the favourites to win the T20 World Cup as they continue their meteoric rise under Captain Eoin Morgan after the failure of the 2016 and 2015 World Cup campaigns. When asked about being favourites for the World Cup Rashid responded, “We must focus on ourselves and the basics and not get carried away with being favourites its irrelevant, we look to perform and perform to the standards we expect of ourselves.”
Rashid has been a key member of Morgan’s team in recent years with the skipper relying on his star bowler to win England games. Adil Rashid responded “It’s nice to see that the captain has a lot of faith in me it gives me the confidence to showcase all my skills. It’s a bond that has developed when I first played for England in 2008. It’s a nice feeling.”
After the disappointment of previous World Cup campaigns England won their maiden World Cup in 2019 “It was a period of 4 years where Morgan was captain, we had a new coach, different players and we played a different brand of cricket which was exciting and a ‘no fear brand’ as a result of this it showed everyone what we are capable of. This was the start of the development towards the 2019 World Cup.”
As the final delivery was bowled Rashid recalls how nervous he was “It was a mixture of emotions it was excitement, adrenaline and fear of coming so close and losing at the end would have been heart-breaking. It was world class from Jofra Archer to see out the game the way he did, he was one of the newest members of the squad and he showed the world how good he is.”