IPL experience will put me in a good position for T20 World Cup: Rashid

England's Adil Rashid is one of the best legspinners in world cricket but is yet to make his IPL debut. Despite being a key component of England's white-ball success under Eoin Morgan, Rashid had often gone unsold in the auction. The Yorkshire bowler, who had a base price of INR 1.5 crore, wasn't picked in the 2021 auction either but has been brought in as a replacement for Punjab Kings seamer Jhye Richardson, who made himself unavailable for the second half of the competition.

“I am really looking forward to it. This is probably one of the best competitions going around in the world. You got the world's best players here. So, for me to be out here just to experience that and hopefully play alongside them, I'm really looking forward to it. So, it should be a good time," Rashid told the Times of India.

The 33-year-old has represented England in 112 ODIs and 62 T20Is and has claimed 224 wickets. The legspinner has also regularly featured in the Vitality Blast but hasn't played a lot of franchise cricket. Rashid has been around for 15 years but has transformed himself into a different beast altogether in the last four-five years. This tournament will also serve as a perfect opportunity for him to prepare himself for the 2021 T20 World Cup, which will be played in the UAE and Oman just after the IPL.

"Yes, definitely. The T20 WC is just after this, so to be here now, to gain the experience of these conditions, the atmosphere, the weather, you know hopefully will put me in a good position for the World Cup as well," he said.

Talking about England's chances of winning the upcoming showpiece event, Rashid said: "I think we've definitely got a good chance, but I always say we never look too far ahead. We don't look at the World Cup. We take it one game at a time, one step at a time.

"You take baby steps and then you win the game. That's our mindset. We back each other in the team, and we got a very strong squad. We've got match-winners all the way. So, I'm confident that we have got the right squad in place to do what we can do.”

Rashid is currently the fourth-ranked bowler in T20Is. The first three - Tabraiz Shamsi, Wanindu Hasaranga and Rashid Khan - are all wristspinners too. 

“It (the trend) may go through patches. The patch now is wrist spin. In months to come, it may be finger spin, or whatever. The reason for that is maybe because the wrist spinners can try to spin the ball both ways. Like the leg-spinner, or the googly or the variations that they have. So as batsmen, they've got to think maybe a lot more: which way is it spinning? Is it going left, right, or straight? It's keeping the batsmen guessing in that way. As a result, the batsman may have to take more risks.

“But it depends on the day. Anybody can get hit on the day, including leg-spinners. But sometimes, a leg-spinner can come back, if he's getting hit, with a couple of quick wickets, purely because he is trying to spin the ball hard both ways. Variation in your armoury helps.”

Rashid is also excited to work under Punjab's Director Of Cricket Operations Anil Kumble. “Kumble was one of the best leg-spinners in the world. So, I will be picking his brains for his experience and whatever he says about leg-spin will be valuable. He has been there and done that. So, I'm looking forward to interacting with him, and hopefully, I'll learn a lot from him.”