[11] This form, combined with a calf injury to Darren Lehmann, earned him the chance to make his first-class debut.

Rashid made his county cricket debut against Warwickshire at North Marine Road, Scarborough, as a replacement for injured overseas batsman Darren Lehmann.

[19][20][21][22][23] He also played in the third Test at the Denis Compton Oval in Shenley, but made less of an impression, only taking three wickets and scoring 15 and 12 runs.

[26] He continued to impress, taking 4/96 against Middlesex at Scarborough[27][28] and scoring 63, his maiden first-class half-century, against Nottinghamshire at Headingley as part of a fourth-wicket stand of 130 with Craig White to dig Yorkshire out of a hole from 42/3 before helping to bowl out Nottinghamshire's tail to win the match for Yorkshire.

[35] Despite unimpressive performances, he was tipped by Yorkshire teammate Jason Gillespie to play international cricket for England in the future.

[37][38] In his County Championship game of the season, at The Oval against Surrey a few days later, he hit 86 in the first innings, putting on 190 with Jacques Rudolph for the sixth wicket.

[47][48] In continuing to play county cricket, he scored his maiden first-class century, 108 against Worcestershire at Kidderminster,[49][50][51][52] and another half-century against Warwickshire.

[60][61] In October 2007, Rashid was named in the "England Performance Programme squad", to train at home and in India during the 2007–08 winter.

[65] For the second season in a row he was also named in the Marylebone Cricket Club squad to play against the champion county, this time Sussex.

[82][83] National selector Geoff Miller, described Rashid's selection at the age of 20 in the following terms: Adil Rashid... is an exciting prospect for the future and his inclusion will enable us to continue to monitor his development closely as well as providing extra competition for places in the spin-bowling department.Rashid was again included in the England Lions team for a tour match against the West Indies,[85] and he had a good all-round performance, scoring 72 runs in England Lions' first innings and taking 3/66 in the West Indies' second innings.

[86][87] Despite not being included in Yorkshire's side for their first two Twenty20 matches of the season, Rashid's form saw him called up to the national team for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 as an injury replacement for Andrew Flintoff.

[107][108] He impressed Australians Michael Clarke and James Hopes with his strong performance,[109][110] but he was shockingly omitted from the English side for the next match.

[112] Rashid completely supplanted Monty Panesar in the England side, being named as the back-up to Graeme Swann for both the Test and ODI squads in their tour of South Africa.

[116][117] He was then dropped from South Africa's ODI squad altogether for the rest of the series, instead playing four-day matches with the England Performance Programme.

Meanwhile, offspinner James Tredwell remained on stand-by to potentially play, indicating that Rashid had dropped down the pecking order.

[121][122] Following his unsuccessful winter abroad, Rashid returned to playing county cricket with Yorkshire in the 2010 summer.

[140][141] His poor form continued into the 2012 season, and he found himself dropped from Yorkshire's team for the first time in his county career.

[143] In ten first-class matches in 2012 he took just 16 wickets at an average of 41 and made 129 runs at 16.12, his decline meaning he was no longer even asked to play for England Lions anymore.

Martyn Moxon, then Yorkshire's director of cricket, said that the interview had been in January, months before the start of the season and that there hadn't been any issues.

[158][160] With the 2015 Ashes around the corner, the English selectors decided to rest Moeen Ali from their ODI series against New Zealand and brought in Rashid as his replacement.

[161] Rashid had an immediate impact in the first match of the series, being involved in the highest 7th wicket partnership of ODI history with Jos Buttler, where they scored 177 runs.

[162] Rashid reached his maiden half-century in just 37 balls and went on to score 69 runs, then he gave the most eye-catching bowling of the match as well, making use of his googly to take the wicket of Kane Williamson and finishing with figures of 4/55.

[171] In October 2015, Rashid was selected in the England touring party to play Pakistan in the UAE making his debut in the First Test at Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.

At the urging of coach Jason Gillespie, Rashid signed a deal to play for Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash in 2015-16 after being left out of the England squad for the tour of South Africa.

He did not pick up a wicket against New Zealand in the semi-final, but turned in a good performance in the final against West Indies, taking figures of 1–23.

Rashid played in the only T20I between the two sides, and bowled economically, conceding just 25 runs from his four overs, as England won by eight wickets.

[180] In early 2018 Rashid informed Yorkshire of his desire to only play white-ball cricket during the upcoming season, and will not feature in the county championship for the side, preferring to focus on his limited-over career.

[187] On 29 May 2020, Rashid was named in a 55-man group of players to begin training ahead of international fixtures starting in England following the COVID-19 pandemic.

[188][189] On 9 July 2020, Rashid was included in England's 24-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the ODI series against Ireland.

[196] Rashid was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to cricket.