England spinner Adil Rashid ready for another duel with 'class player' Babar Azam

• Rashid says Babar is a class player and one of the best in world.
• England ready to defend the T20 World Champions title.
• Pakistan set to fly to England for four match T20 series in May. 

BIRMINGHAM: England’s star leg spinner Adil Rashid is ready to take on Babar Azam-led Pakistan when the green shirts visit England next month for a four match T20I series set to take place in second half of May.

The national squad will fly to England for the T20 series ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which is scheduled for June.

Bradford-born Rashid is currently not only England’s number one leg spinner in the shorter formats of the game but also ranked as number one T20I bowler in the world according to the latest ICC rankings.

Speaking exclusively to Geo News, the cricketer, who’s parents are of Pakistani origin said that the Men in Green are a very good team and also have a huge fan base in England. He said that his team is fully prepared to take on Pakistan, who were the runners up in T20 World Cup 2022 against the Englishmen.

“We are fully prepared and ready to face Pakistan team. They are very good team, they got experience and some very explosive players. They always enjoyed big support specially in Birmingham and Leeds so the crowd will be big. We were looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it,” the cricketer said.

Rashid is not only a huge admirer of Pakistani skipper Babar’s bating but also enjoys bowling to him and has got him few times in the international cricket, most recently during the final of T20 World Cup in 2022 at MCG.

“I enjoy bowling to everybody as a bowler you have to be careful against each player. But I especially enjoy bowling to Babar Azam because he's a class player. He is one of the best batsmen in the world. He’s not only a good player of spin but equally a good player against pacers too. It happens in cricket as it’s the part and parcel of this game and sometimes I might get him out. Hopefully when he comes here, I will try to get him out again”.

England, who won the last T20 World Cup when they breath Pakistan in the finals at Australia’s iconic Melbourne cricket ground in 2022, are set to defend their T20 world champion’s title.

Rashid is hopeful that his team can and will successfully defend the title as they have got the mindset and manpower to do so.

“Inshallah, we will defend it and that’s our mindset right now. We're going into the World Cup with the mindset that we will be trying to retain the title and win it again. We have got the team, the squad in place and the mindset. We're going to go out there [USA-West Indies] and take one step at a time and hopefully we will go all the way”.

It may be noted that Rashid played a big role first in helping England win their first ever ICC men’s ODI Cricket World Cup in 2019 at Lords under Eoin Morgan and then in 2022 the ICC men’s T20 World Cup under Jos Buttler’s leadership, but he thinks that although the leadership has changed but the winning mindset of the team has also transitioned as both Morgan and Buttler had huge experience of playing all around the world.

“In 2019 and 2022 we had two different captains, Morgan and Buttler, both with completely different mindsets but our aim is going into that World Cup to win. He’s [English captain] played all around the world. With his experience, he does things differently and knows how to handle pressure in different situations. It is the same with Morgan too so it's just a transition from 2019 till now, it’s a transition of our mindsets from then till now hopefully we can do the same thing,” he added.

For the past few years Rashid along with Moeen Ali have become a role model for the young English cricketers of Pakistani origin and that makes Adil the number one leg spinner in England feel more proud

“Alhamdolillah, very proud of myself to come all this way, but now also being in that lime light where you are a role model for the next generation. Now you see in England a lot more spinners coming through so it's a great sign the youngsters are trying to ball leg spin or offspin more often. Hopefully they now can come through and make it all the way as well,” he concluded.