England leg-spinner Adil Rashid has hit back at Michael Vaughan after the former captain described his selection for the first Test against India as “ridiculous.”
Rashid was included in a 13-man squad even though he has opted out of playing first-class County Championship cricket for Yorkshire this season.
His selection for next week’s first Test on the back of his one-day form has not gone down well with Vaughan, an ex-teammate of Rashid’s for Yorkshire, who described his selection as “stab in the back for county cricket.”
Writing in the Telegraph newspaper, he added: “It basically says our county game, the finishing school for our cricketers, does not matter any more and that it is irrelevant.”
Rashid, who won the last of his 10 Test caps in Chennai more than 18 months ago, said Vaughan was “talking nonsense” and said his opinions “did not matter to anybody.”
“When I mentioned at the start of the year I will not be playing red-ball cricket, he tweeted something then,” he said in an interview with the BBC. “He was being controversial and saying his stupid things then too.
“I don’t think he has an agenda against me. I played under and with him but sometimes ex-players come out and start talking nonsense about current players.
“There will be people out there who are not happy. There will be haters, like the pundits who are saying it is a disgrace. That is not my fault.”
Vaughan could not resist another dig at Rashid on Friday, tweeting: “I am stupid for wanting someone to prepare to play the No1 Test team in the world by playing a 4 day game with the red ball.”
Yorkshire chief executive Mark Arthur said the county were “very surprised” by Rashid’s recall.
The player responded by casting doubt on his future at Headingley.
“If they treat me like they have done, don’t see any value in me and are disrespectful to me, I have to think about the future in terms of which county I play for,” said Rashid.
National selector Ed Smith has made it clear that in order to be eligible for Test selection next year Rashid must return to the domestic four-day game.
Adil Rashid hits out at ex-England captain Michael Vaughan over selection comments
Adil Rashid hits out at ex-England captain Michael Vaughan over selection comments
- Ex-Yorkshire teammate and England skipper Vaughan not happy with Rashid selection claiming it was a "stab in the back for the country game."
- Rashid claims Vaughan was “talking nonsense” and said his opinions “did not matter to anybody.”
Pakistan drop Babar and Ayub for ODI series against Bangladesh
- The 15-member squad has six uncapped players, including opening batter Sahibzada Farhan
- Abdul Samad, renowned for his aggressive batting in T20s, is one of the other uncapped players
ISLAMABAD: After a disappointing T20 World Cup, Pakistan have dropped seasoned batter Babar Azam and allrounder Saim Ayub for next week’s ODI series in Bangladesh.
The 15-member squad has six uncapped players, including opening batter Sahibzada Farhan, who topped the batting charts at the T20 World Cup with 383 runs. However, Farhan hasn’t played a 50-over game at domestic level since October 2024.
The selectors also dropped allrounders Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan, but surprisingly kept T20 captain Salman Ali Agha in the ODI squad after he scored only 60 runs at the T20 World Cup.
Abdul Samad, renowned for his aggressive batting in T20s, is one of the other uncapped players along with Shamyl Hussain, a 21-year-old opening batter, and Maaz Sadaqat. Ghazi Ghori is the backup wicketkeeper-batter as Pakistan recalled former ODI captain Mohammad Rizwan for the tour.
Mohammad Wasim and Haris Rauf are the two fast bowlers alongside Shaheen Shah Afridi, who will continue to lead the ODI team. Legspinner Abrar Ahmed will be frontline spinner with left-arm wristspinner Faisal Akram the other option.
The three-match series will be played from March 11-15 with Dhaka hosting all the games.
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Squad: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Hussain Talat, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Ghazi Ghori, Saad Masood, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Shamyl Hussain.
