He’s magic, you know!
Adil Rashid MBE is a two-time England World Cup-winning genius and amongst the top-ranked T20 bowlers in the world. Rashid held the number one spot as recently as January 2025 but is – at time of writing – third in the world.
In fact, the Bradfordian stands as one of the very best limited overs leg-spinners ever to have played the game.
In September 2024, he claimed his 200th One-Day International wicket for England against Australia in a fixture at Headingley. In early 2025, he took his 400th international wicket across all formats.
His appearances for Yorkshire in recent years have been few and far between, but he has made the county immensely proud by winning 50-over and T20 World Cups in 2019 and 2022.
Rashid, 37, played his 100th T20 match for England in December 2023, against the West Indies, and made his 250th international appearance across all formats. In his 100th T20I appearance, he also became the first Englishman to take 100 wickets in that format.
Without leading the way wickets wise in either of the aforementioned World Cup triumphs, Rash contributed when it mattered most.
In the 2019 triumph on home soil, his best of 3-54 came in the semi-final win over Australia. In late 2022, his best of 2-22 from four overs came in the final victory over Pakistan in Melbourne.
He made his T20 and one-day international debuts in 2009 and his Test debut in 2015, playing 19 times in the latter format, owing much to a long-standing shoulder injury that he has had to manage.
A teenaged Rashid took six wickets on his Yorkshire debut – a County Championship win over Warwickshire at Scarborough in 2006. He went on to score 10 hundreds and top 500 wickets in a first-class career which yielded Championship titles with the county in 2014 and 2015.
He has been honoured, alongside Jonny Bairstow, with the Freedom of Bradford award, also owing to significant amounts of charity work.
He was awarded his MBE in June 2023 for services to cricket as part of King Charles’ first Birthday Honours List.
UPDATED: Feb 2025.
