Just happy that I got through to World Cup despite shoulder injury, says Adil Rashid

Players are wary of an injury when the World Cup is just around the corner and when he suffered a shoulder injury around that time, Rashid suspected that it would rule him out of England’s squad. Over the last four years, between the 2015 and 2019 World Cups to be precise, Rashid was the leading wicket-taker in one-day internationals. But he returned just 11 scalps at an average of 47.81 during the World Cup, although the leggie revealed he had two cortisone injections into the joint of his right shoulder because the intense pain left him unable to raise his arm with the ball in hand.

“One was literally a week before the World Cup, one was a month and a half before that. The steroid injection (another term for cortisone injection) helped a lot. But you’re never 100 percent, if you speak to any bowler, no bowler is 100 percent fit. I’m just happy I got through the World Cup, tried to the best of my ability with the shoulder I had and I’m quite happy with how things turned out,” Rashid said, while speaking to the BBC’s Test Match Special.

“I had to find a way and the injection was the only thing I could do before the World Cup. If I didn’t take the injection, I don’t reckon I would have played a part because it was actually that bad. Before the injection it was painful. I actually couldn’t lift my arm with the ball,” he said.

Eventually, the injury took its toll and curtailed Rashid’s summer after the World Cup final in July, with the Yorkshireman opting to treat the problem with rest and rehabilitation instead of undergoing surgery. The 31-year-old returned to action on Sunday during a T20 warm-up match against New Zealand XI. Although he returned with figures of two for 25 — the pick of England’s attack — in their six-wicket victory, Rashid admitted that he is yet to fire on all cylinders.

“From three months ago to now, it’s got a lot better. I would still say it’s not 100 percent but that’s something I’m working towards and hopefully, I can get that soon. I’ve still not quite got the snap that I would like, personally. But hopefully that will come as time goes on, maybe before the first T20 my snap might be there, the pace I want to bowl to. But at this moment in time, it’s something that I’ve got to really drive towards and look forward to getting it stronger,” Rashid added.

It is expected that he will be rested for the second practice match at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval on Tuesday, ahead of the start of the five-match T20 series against the Black Caps, which gets underway in Christchurch on Friday.