India vs England: Michael Vaughan SLAMS Adil Rashid's Test Inclusion; Calls the Decision ‘Ridiculous’

On Thursday after a gap of a couple of years, England’s Adil Rashid made a place in the test squad. He played the last test match against India in Chennai. However, his selection has not gone down well with the former captain of England Michael Vaughan. He labelled the decision as ridiculous and lashed out at the selection of Rashid.

He took to Twitter and 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 ... !!!" Adil’s inclusion in the test team is nothing short of surprise because the cricketer had signed a contracted with Yorkshire and had opted out of playing red-ball cricket.

Yorkshire, Chief Executive, Mark Arthur also questioned Adil Rashid’s inclusion in the team. “We're very surprised that England have called Adil up after not playing red-ball cricket this season," Arthur was quoted as saying by the official website of Yorkshire. "Neither has he expressed a desire to do so. I hope that England know what they're doing to Adil, and the county game," Arthur further added.

However, Ed Smith, national selector of England had a clarification to offer. Following his (Adil Rashid) earlier decision in February 2018, Adil has a white-ball only contract to play for Yorkshire this summer. That arrangement is unchanged by his selection for England...Clearly, the one-off circumstances around Adil's return to the Test squad are unusual. However, the selection panel was unanimous in believing that Adil should be selected in England's squad. However, Adil fully understands that if he wishes to be eligible for Test cricket in the 2019 season, he must have a county contract to play four-day cricket. Moving forward, England Test players must be committed to the county championship."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 26, 2018 11:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).