Adil Rashid says there are no regrets over his decision to prioritise white ball cricket ahead of his return to Yorkshire colours for the first time this season for the start of the Royal London One-Day Cup tomorrow.
The Vikings face Durham under the glare of the floodlights and the Sky Sports cameras at Emirates Riverside (2pm).
England’s Rashid made the decision in February to put his Championship and Test ambitions on the back-burner for 2018.
But a lot of water has passed under the bridge since; Yorkshire playing five Championship matches and England’s number one spinner Jack Leach breaking his thumb just a few days ago.
Had Rashid been playing red ball cricket and in good form, he would surely have been a contender for next week’s first Test against Pakistan.
“That could have happened, of course,” said the Bradfordian. “But it’s not something I’ve thought about. I made the decision some time ago, and those kind of things will always happen.
“I’m 100 percent happy. If I make a decision, I’ll stand by it. It may be a good one or a bad one in time, who knows. But I will stand by it however it turns out.
“It was just what I felt was the right thing to do because it would have been easy for me to carry on with the red ball, go through the motions and let nobody know. I didn’t really feel my heart was in it. Rather than that, I had to tell Yorkshire.
“I had a chat with Martyn Moxon and said ‘I don’t feel I’d be giving 100 percent, which would let the team down and myself down’. We then came to an agreement.
“I was thinking about it for probably a couple of months before making the decision.”
