Adil Rashid will look to put a disappointing English county season behind him this week when he links up with the South Australian Redbacks ahead of their Twenty20 Champions League campaign in India.

The Yorkshire leg-spinner is set to play for the Adelaide-based state side following a successful spell with them earlier this year.

He is the only overseas player in the Redbacks’ squad, which includes a quartet of Australia internationals in Dan Christian, Nathan Lyon, Callum Ferguson and Shaun Tait.

Rashid, 23, took only 39 wickets from 16 County Championship matches for Yorkshire this summer compared to 57 in 2010.

And it has been quite obvious the England player has lacked confidence, despite starting the season with an 11-wicket match haul against Worcestershire at New Road.

But White Rose captain Andrew Gale has urged his team-mate to enjoy the next three weeks on the sub-continent.

“It’s a good opportunity for him to go out there, relax and see where it takes him,” said Gale.

“He’s not a really deep thinker about the game anyway, so I’m sure he’ll just look to enjoy himself.

“The Champions League can make or break a player, and there’s quite a few who have come out of nowhere. It could help him.”

Rashid, who opened the bowling regularly for the Redbacks, took ten wickets from seven matches as they went on to win the Big Bash competition. And, despite troubles in the Championship, his form in one-day cricket for Yorkshire this summer was respectable.

He took 21 wickets from 11 Clydesdale Bank 40 and 15 from 14 Twenty20 matches.

“People will say he’s not had a great year,” said Gale. “But, if you look at the Professional Cricketers’ Association rankings, he’s still been our most valuable player across all forms.

“He’s had a leaner season than he would have liked in the Championship, but he’s still bowled pretty well in one-day cricket.

“It can be tough for a leg-spinner swapping formats of the game. Your trajectory is so flat in one-day cricket, then going back into Champion-ship cricket where you’d like to give it a bit more air, you can see why you have peaks and troughs.

“If you bowl it slow and give it air in one-day cricket, batsmen will go straight after it. But he has to be more patient in Championship cricket. He has to be willing to go for a few more runs to get some wickets.”

South Australia’s first match is against the Warriors franchise from South Africa at Hyderabad on Sunday. They are also due to play Royal Challengers Bangalore and two unconfirmed qualifiers in the group stages.

Leicestershire and Somerset are two of six teams hoping to make it through to the main draw.