ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 final: Adil Rashid battles shoulder injury, says Eoin Morgan ‘best captain’

Adil Rashid has been a vital component in the England bowling line-up during their ODI resurgence in the last couple of years. In the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, Rashid had taken eight wickets and had slightly underperformed. However, in the crucial semi-final against Australia in Edgbaston, Rashid took three big wickets. The legspinner broke the 103-run stand between Alex Carey and Steve Smith when he had the dangerous Carey caught at deep midwicket for 46. In the same over, he trapped Marcus Stoinis LBW for 0 and then got the wicket of Pat Cummins for 6 thanks to a sharp catch from Joe Root at slip. England won the match by eight wickets and reached the final after 27 years with a clinical performance.

Speaking ahead of the final, Rashid revealed that he was battling a shoulder injury and that had restricted his ability to bowl googlies at will. “I've had a bit of a shoulder problem, so I've not bowled the googlies as much. I know that it's a big weapon for me. My shoulder has that little bit of problem and I knew I still had to bowl it, even if there was a bit of a pain. Before the shoulder, I was confident bowling everything. Once you have niggle it becomes a bit harder with the rotation - the arm gets a bit lower and you don't find that snap,” Rashid said in a chat with the official ICC website.

Following the disastrous first-round exit in the 2015 World Cup, England decided to revamp the style of cricket they played in limited-overs cricket. A New England emerged and they dominated the ODI scene for the last couple of years. At the helm of their resurgence has been Eoin Morgan and Rashid hailed his influence as a leader.

“He always has faith in me from day one till now. There are going to be games where you don't go well, that's part and parcel of cricket but he always has the confidence that I can do a job. He's 100 per cent the best captain I've ever played under. He knows my game now inside out. I've been with him for four years, through good times and not so good times. He knows my strengths and what I'm capable of. We have that trust as well. If he senses something, we'll go by it. We're easy-going like that and I 100 per cent trust him in all the decisions he makes,” Rashid said.

England will be aiming to break years of pain in ICC events as they look to shed their tag of perennial underachievers and win the World Cup for the first time.

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HIGHLIGHTS

• England defeated New Zealand in the 2019 World Cup league game in Durham.
• England have reached the final of the World Cup ater 27 years.
• New Zealand reached the World Cup final in 2015.