WORLD Cup winner Adil Rashid has agreed a one-year contract extension to play white-ball cricket for Yorkshire in 2021.

The leg-spinning all-rounder, who is from Bradford like teammate for club and country Jonny Bairstow, has spent much of the shortened 2020 season playing for England and was therefore unable to pull on a Yorkshire shirt.

However, the 32-year-old is hopeful of adding to his impressive appearance statistics in 2021.

Rashid said: “It’s always nice to sign a contract extension.

“I’ve been at Yorkshire for such a long time; coming through the set up and playing from such a young age, so I’m thankful to Yorkshire for giving me the opportunity.

“For them to keep giving me contract extensions is a nice thing for myself and does mean a lot.”

The leg-spinner, who is currently ranked number seven in the ICC World IT20 rankings for bowlers, has spent much of the summer in bio-secure environments with England.

He did not play any Test matches, though he has expressed an interest in doing so going forward, as long as his troublesome shoulder can handle it.

But he was a regular in the one-day side, with their games spread over a seven-week period.

“It’s been a bit of a challenge, something completely different to what we’re normally used to, but it was something that we had to deal with,” Rashid commented.

“Staying at certain grounds and hotels, not being able to do certain things and being away from our families was hard, but it was something we had to do.

“You have your ups and downs in cricket, but this summer generally was okay for me from a cricketing perspective.

“I’m always trying to improve, trying to get better. Sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn’t in terms of outcome.

“Hopefully now I can try my best to carry on my form to next year.”

Given both the domestic and international schedules for 2021 are still to be confirmed, the Bradford-born all-rounder’s availability is yet to be known.

It is hoped that Rashid will be able to add to his current tally of 110 T20 wickets for Yorkshire in 2021.

“It would be nice to be able to play in the Vitality Blast next year,” the 32-year-old said.

“I haven’t played for a while now because of Covid and being with England, but it would be nice to represent Yorkshire again next year and play in the T20 Blast.”

Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire’s director of cricket, said: “It’s great that Adil has signed a contract extension.

“Obviously at this stage we don’t know how the fixture list is going to fall and how that will impact on his England commitments.

“It’s always good to have him as a potential selection for us and hopefully he will play some games for us next season.

“He’s been at the top of his game this summer and put in some fantastic performances. He’s consistent now at international level.

“There’s a lot of good white-ball spinners around the world but he’s definitely one of the best.

“Any games that he is available for us, it will be great to have him as part of our team.”

Rashid has played in a variety of global T20 tournaments over the last few years and will be hoping to help the Yorkshire Vikings to silverware in 2021.

“There’s a vision and goal that we have for the T20 format and there’s going to be a lot of hard work put in,” Rashid said.

“Over the years we’ve not done as well as we’d like, but it’s all about learning and hopefully next year we can get better and challenge.”