England wicketkeeper-batsman, Jonny Bairstow reckons that leg-spinner Adil Rashid will be able to put aside the criticism the bowler had received for his selection to the England Test team has generated and continue his form from where he left in the T20Is and ODIs against India.

Rashid was selected for the first of five Test matches against India despite opting not to play red-ball cricket ahead of the 2018 county season. Former English skipper, Michael Vaughan, dubbed it “ridiculous” before Rashid hit back. Another former captain, Nasser Hussian, felt Rashid’s Test recall demeans the importance of county cricket. The legendary all-rounder, Ian Botham, however, termed these criticisms unnecessary.

Bairstow, who play alongside Rashid in Yorkshire as well, refused to be drawn into the controversy but said the leg-spinner must be excited to have got the England call-up for the Test series starting on August 1 in Birmingham. He said, “The biggest honor you can have is to go out and play Test cricket for England. It is an exciting challenge for him (Rashid), as for us all, going from white-ball cricket to red-ball cricket.”

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Rashid’s stunning delivery to dismiss India skipper Virat Kohli in the ODI series had raised hopes of a comeback into the Test squad and Jonny welcomed the leg-spinner in the Test team. He said, “He has bowled me with plenty of leg breaks over the years. It is not just that one ball that he will get remembered for but the skills and the balls he bowled, his googlies, the way he has varied his pace, come over the top of the ball, round the side of it. His utilization of his side spin and top spin was very impressive as well. He is delighted and I am really excited for him.”

Adil hasn’t played any first-class game since September last year but Bairstow reckons that the former has enough maturity to deal with the challenges of adapting the challenges of the longest format of the game. 

Jonny elaborated, “I think he has matured a lot. If he is landing his leg-spinner, if he is landing his googly, he just has to do it a few more times other than the 10 overs he has been bowling. At the same time, people are not necessarily (going to) come at him as hard in red-ball cricket as they will in white so the shape he gets on the ball, the line he might bowl, the length he might bowl, might differ as well.”

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Bairstow, himself, is excited to don the keeping gloves again for the first Test at Edgbaston.

The flamboyant keeper concluded, “I am happy with the way I have been playing. There are differences that are going to change from white-ball to red-ball. With the white ball, I have been opening the batting, with the red ball I am a bit further down, hopefully batting for a longer time and your roles differ. I would like to hope that is something over the last ten years of playing, with the way my game is an evolving, that I have been able to modify those in different scenarios and different conditions against different opposition.”