England have announced their squad for the first Test against India and after days of intense speculation, leg-spinner Adil Rashid has made a comeback to the Joe Root-led 13-man side.
Rashid, who had recently declined Yorkshire's red ball contract, has earned a recall following his match-winning spells against Virat Kohli's Team India in the recently-concluded limited-overs series.
The leg-spinner last played a Test match against India in 2016 in Chennai has played 10 Tests for his 38 wickets.
Rashid's selection is bound to garner all the headlines and chief selector Ed Smith has clarified that the leg-spinner needs to have a red ball contract if he wants to be picked for the 2019 season.
Moeen Ali makes a comeback
"Adil Rashid also returns to the England Test squad. Before the selection meeting, Adil had confirmed his availability to play Test cricket for England for the whole of this summer and the upcoming winter tours to Sri Lanka and West Indies, Smith said.
"Following his earlier decision in February 2018, Adil has a white-ball only contract to play for Yorkshire this summer. That arrangement is unchanged by his selection for England.
"However, Adil fully understands that if he wishes to be eligible for Test cricket in the 2019 season, he must have a county contract to play four-day cricket. Moving forward, England Test players must be committed to the county championship."
"Clearly, the one-off circumstances around Adil's return to the Test squad are unusual. However, the selection panel was unanimous in believing that Adil should be selected in England's squad," he further added.
Yorkshire 'disappointed' with ECB's decision
However, the selection of Adil Rashid has not gone down too well with Yorkshire.
"We are pretty disappointed with both the ECB's and Adil's decision," said Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire's Director of Cricket, "and we will have to consider the implications as far as our plans for next year are concerned."
After having a miserable Ashes, Moeen Ali is back in the Test squad and might play as the all-rounder. Also, fast bowler Jamie Porter earned his maiden call-up while Sam Curran remains in the side.
The first Test match between England and India will be played at Edgbaston on August 1.
England Squad: Joe Root (c), Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Jos Buttler, Adil Rashid, Sam Curran, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Jamie Porter
