Adil Rashid has said that as a British Asian coming through the ranks at Yorkshire, he had to be significantly better than his peers to get recognition.
Speaking in an episode of the ECB’s No Boundaries documentary series, the World Cup winner acknowledged that those around him told him he was unlikely to make it as a youngster because of the “history”.
“There were times growing up when you would doubt yourself and people would doubt you, [saying] ‘you’re not going to make it, it’s hard to get through the Yorkshire system,’ especially knowing the history, a lot of people said it’s hard work,” the leg-spinner said.
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It was something his father believed to, though he used it as extra motivation to push his son harder. “Growing up I knew I had to be a lot better than the rest,” said Rashid. “My father knew that as well. He would push me in that sense, [saying] that ‘you’ve got to train harder than everybody, you’ve got to make sure you’re better than everybody’. Because of the system and how things worked back then it was harder for the Asian community to break through into that system.”
Rashid and Yorkshire have shared a mixed relationship in his 15 years at the club so far. While he has contributed hugely on the field, scoring 10 centuries and taking 420 wickets for the club in first-class cricket alone, tensions between the two were revealed in 2018 when Rashid won an England Test call-up, having opted to sign a white-ball-only contract with Yorkshire at the start of that year.
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His decision not to turn out in a County Championship game against Lancashire, which came after his call-up, was openly criticised by the club’s management, and Rashid still hasn’t played for Yorkshire in first-class cricket since 2017, though he remains contracted as a white-ball player.
