India vs England: Adil Rashid's Test Selection 'Ridiculous', Says Michael Vaughan

Spinner Adil Rashid received the Test call-up for England as the selectors on Thursday announced a 13-member squad for the first Test against India. He found a place in the squad for the first time since he played a Test against India at Chennai in 2016. However, Rashid's selection has not gone down well with former England captain Micheal Vaughan and he labelled it as "ridiculous." Soon after the squad was announced Vaughan took to Twitter to vent his disappointment.

"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 ... !!!" tweeted Vaughan.

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

Adil Rashid's Test call-up was controversial given the fact that he had 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.

Yorkshire chief executive Mark Arthur questioned the selection.

"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 stated.

Clarifying Rashid's Test call-up, national selector Ed Smith said, "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."

Smith also said Rashid would have to commit to the Championship game to be eligible for Test selection from 2019 onwards.

"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," Smith said.

England Test squad

Joe Root (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Jamie Porter, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes.

Topics mentioned in this article

England Cricket Team India Cricket Team Adil Rashid Cricket England vs India, 2018