The first ball of each of Adil Rashid's spells so far in the 2026 T20 World Cup could not have been more different.
In England's nervy tournament opener on Sunday, Nepal had been pegged back by Will Jacks and Liam Dawson in the powerplay, and Rashid was faced with Dipendra Singh Airee only three balls into his innings. The quicker, flatter variation Rashid sent down was deftly cut away for four by Airee, which signalled the beginning of Nepal's assault. Together, Airee and Rohit Paudel carved 44 runs off the next five overs, hitting back against the middle-over spin squeeze in a way England had struggled to do in their own innings.
Rashid came in for particular punishment. He conceded 42 runs in the three, wicketless overs he bowled, including being hit for two sixes in his final four balls. England aren't used to not being able to depend on four tidy overs from Rashid. Those 42 runs were the second most he's conceded in a wicketless spell in his entire 17-year-long T20I career. Both Paudel and Airee's ability to pick Rashid's variations, and deft use of their feet to reverse sweep shorter pitched deliveries, while banging fuller ones in front of the wicket, combined to result in one of Rashid's worst outings in an England shirt.
Those days, however, are rare. Before the Nepal match, Rashid was on a 24-match-long streak of taking a wicket in consecutive T20Is, stretching back to 2024. In England's match against West Indies on Wednesday, he reurned to show why he's England's most devastating T20I asset.
This time, bowling the first ball of his spell to Roston Chase, he floated the ball into the right-hander, and was met with a clip into the leg side for a single. Throughout his opening over, he mixed up his variations, displaying the full range of his skills as if peacocking against his chastening experience three days before. This was Rashid at his best, drawing Chase forward then pushing him back before bringing out the big turning leg break. Three runs came off his first over. Using almost the same plan, it was too much for Chase in the next, and he was pinned on his back leg by another big googly.
That wicket was Rashid's 400th in T20 cricket. Of English spinners, he's almost 100 clear of their next closest. It also took him past Chris Jordan for the most wickets taken by an England player in T20 World Cups. Jordan, who last played for England in the 2024 T20 World Cup, is also the closest challenger to Rashid for England's overall T20I wicket-taker record, but has now slipped back to an almost 50-wicket deficit to Rashid.
With figures of 2-16 against West Indies, Adil Rashid is now England’s leading wicket-taker at men’s T20 World Cups 🏴💪#ENGvWI #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/bn8gRWHkxz
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) February 11, 2026
It's taken as read that Rashid is an England white-ball great, and one of their overall greatest assets of all time. But that doesn't quite get across one, just how much better he is than England's next-bests and two, how much England's success or failure depends on him.
Their success in the 2022 tournament is often remembered by Sam Curran as player of the tournament, or Ben Stokes' final heroics. But, in both of their must-win games, the semi-final and final, Rashid stood out. His economy rate from four overs against India in the semi-final was exactly five – no other bowler conceded their runs at less than sevens. In the final, he took his best figures for the tournament (2-22), getting Mohammad Harris and Babar Azam.
Perhaps even more impressive than his complete undoing of Chase early in his spell in Mumbai, were the five runs he conceded when asked to bowl the 18th – a role he wouldn't be fallen back on to fill if England had a reliable option at the death. Defending smaller boundaries at the Wankhede, and with Jason Holder having just hit three sixes off Curran's 17th, Rashid bowled conceded one run off three balls to Holder. The difference is, in 2022 Rashid was still England's man when they had a more complete bowling attack than they do now, with clear, repeatable roles. In 2026, as part of a cobbled together attack lacking real firepower, Rashid is who they turn to to smooth it over.
England lost yesterday, but it wasn't because 197 was too many to get. Sherfane Rutherford said after the game that he thought West Indies were 10 runs short, and in the middle of the seventh over England were 74-1. That they were able to be in that position at all was down to Rashid's unflappable tenacity.
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