Whether Yorkshire win the forthcoming Friends Life t20 competition or not, Adil Rashid is off to the Champions League.

The 23-year-old leg-spinning all-rounder from Bradford knows that his place in one of cricket’s most high-profile tournaments is secure, having helped the South Australian Redbacks to Big Bash glory over the winter.

Teams from India, Australia, South Africa, England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and the West Indies will all gather in either India or South Africa in late September and early October to decide the best domestic 20-over side in world cricket.

If Yorkshire qualify, Rashid will play for them because his main obligation is towards his home county. If not, he will go and play for the Redbacks.

“I’m looking forward to that at the end of the season and it should be really good for my development,” said Rashid, who will be in the Yorkshire side for Friday’s North Division opener against Warwickshire at Headingley.

“Twenty20’s gone well for me over the last year. I loved my summer in England and then my winter in Australia. Hopefully I can continue my form and contribute to us doing well as a team.”

Rashid has taken 36 wickets in his last 23 20-over matches, including 26 of those from 16 for Yorkshire last summer.

He finished as the North Division’s joint-most successful spinner alongside Lancashire left-armer Stephen Parry.

“I seem to have found my areas in the last year, what balls work and what don’t,” said Rashid.

“The key is to look at the batsman and try to get an idea of where he’s hitting the ball.

“Then you can decide whether to throw it up, fire it in, hold it back or bowl it that little bit wider.”

Rashid took ten wickets in seven matches for the Redbacks during last December, January and early February.

He said: “It was a really good experience. Going over there and playing as an overseas player in such a big tournament was a great learning curve for me.

“I learnt a lot about the differences in the way that different players from around the world approach the game.

“In Aussie Twenty20, the batsmen tend to go hard all the way through the innings. Up top they go hard, through the middle they go hard and at the end they go even harder.

“Over here, you go hard for the first six and then again at the end. It’s just that middle period of six to eight overs where it’s knocked around a little bit more.”

Rashid also formed a successful three-pronged spin attack with left-arm spinner Aaron O’Brien and off-spinner Nathan Lyon in his time with the Adelaide-based side.

He said at the time that he thought a similar tactic could work to Yorkshire’s advantage, with David Wainwright and Azeem Rafiq playing alongside him, and still believes that now.

“It definitely worked for the Redbacks and hopefully I can have an input into that here at Yorkshire too,” said Rashid.

“Especially when you play on big grounds, three spinners is definitely an option. It’s much harder for the batsman in Twenty20 when you take pace off the ball.”