BIRMINGHAM: Adil Rashid faced further pressure ahead of his controversial recall to the England Test side for their series opener against India at Edgbaston when it was announced on Tuesday he would be the lone specialist spinner in the hosts’ XI.
England confirmed that off-spinner Moeen Ali had been left out from a 13-man squad for the five-match series opener.
That leaves Yorkshire leg-spinner Rashid as England’s sole designated slow bowler, although his county colleague Joe Root, the England captain, can supplement his top-order batting with occasional off-spin.
England have also omitted uncapped Essex seamer Jamie Porter.
Top-order batsman Dawid Malan remains in the XI, with all-rounder Ben Stokes and Surrey left-arm quick Sam Curran providing seam bowling support to the veteran new-ball pairing of James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the first of the five-Test series starting Wednesday.
“Looking at the surface, we’ve decided we only want to go with one spinner, and that’s going to be Adil,” Root told reporters at Edgbaston on Tuesday. “With the amount of right-handers in what we think is going to be India’s team, he gives us a very attacking option.”
Rashid’s previous 10 Tests, the first of which was in December 2016, have yielded 38 wickets at an expensive average of 42.78.
But the 30-year-old has been brought back after impressing in recent home limited-overs series against Australia and India.
“I think he’s obviously bowling with a huge amount of confidence,” added Root.
Rashid’s recall for his 11th Test but first in England provoked a furious response given he signed a limited-overs only contract with Yorkshire for this season.
Yorkshire and England greats Geoffrey Boycott and Michael Vaughan are among those who’ve slammed the decision to call-up Rashid without him having first played any red-ball County Championship cricket this term.