India tour of England 2022: Adil Rashid to miss white-ball series for Hajj pilgrimage

Rashid, a practising Muslim, will fly to Saudi Arabia on Saturday (June 25), which means he will also miss the latter stages of Yorkshire’s T20 Blast campaign.

“I’ve been wanting to do it for a little while but I’ve found it pretty difficult with the timings. This year, I felt as though it was something that I had to do, and something I wanted to do as well,” Rashid told ‘ESPNcricinfo’.

“I spoke to the ECB and to Yorkshire about it and they were very understanding and encouraging, like: ‘yep, you do what you’ve got to do and then come back when you can’.

“Me and the missus are going and I’ll be there for a couple of weeks,” he added.

Rashid was part of England’s recently-concluded tour of the Netherlands, where the visitors comfortably bagged the three-match ODI series 3-0.

“It’s a massive moment: each faith has got their own different thing but for Islam and being a Muslim, this is one of the biggest ones,” Rashid said.

“It’s a big thing for my faith and for myself. I knew that I needed to do it while I’m young and strong and healthy. This is something that I really committed to myself that I would do.”

India take on hosts England in a white-ball series, including three T20Is and as many ODIs from July 7 to 17.

Rashid is expected to miss all six games as he is likely to return in mid-July, ahead of England’s white-ball series against South Africa.

But the 34-year-old asserted that the decision to go on the holy pilgrimage “was irrelevant of cricket.”

“It wasn’t like, right, I’m playing against India – I’d better not go. That didn’t really cross my mind. It was purely: right, I’m going – the decision was irrelevant of cricket, in that sense,” Rashid said.

“All I had to do was speak to Yorkshire and England and get their go-ahead. That was very easy and they were very understanding. To have that backing from your county and from your country, it feels like a big boost.”