In the second Test matchup against India, Shoaib Bashir will make his Test debut. Ben Stokes, the captain of England, saw him beat Alastair Cook and posted about it on social media.
In an English County Championship encounter against Essex, roughly six and a half months ago, 19-year-old Shoaib Bashir made his first-class debut for Somerset. For just one wicket in 49 overs, he bowled in the match, which Essex won by 196 runs. His next five games were also not very well. Taking nine more wickets at an average of 67 was his haul. However, these are just simple figures. To be honest, Bashir might have made his case without the scorecard. Ben Stokes, the captain of England’s Test team, was impressed by his maiden over in county cricket.
But the young off-spinner should give credit to Somerset Cricket’s social media presence and the fact that Stokes is a reasonably active user of X (formerly Twitter). A brief clip of Bashir’s opening over, in which he bowled to the exceptional spinner Sir Alastair Cook, was posted on Somerset’s X account.
For an off-spinner, Bashir possesses an unconventional run-up and movement. He rushes into his stride rather than taking his time getting to the crease, but his tall stature enables him to hit the ball from a decent height. This may occasionally give the hitter a false impression about how the ball will travel. just as it did with Cook. Twice, in fact. In Bashir’s first over, the great cricketer was beaten twice. Stokes was only interested in the two six deliveries that Cook faced off Bashir, despite the fact that Cook went on to score an incredible 128.
The captain of England is not one of those who watches run totals, wicket totals, or scorecards. He thinks in a certain way. Upon viewing the footage of Bashir, he immediately forwarded it to a WhatsApp group that includes ECB managing Rob Key and head coach Brendon McCullum. “To be perfectly honest, Abu Dhabi was the first real live look I got at Bash,” Stokes stated. “I saw him for the first time on Twitter. I believe a brief video of him bowling against Sir Alastair was put together by the County Championship [account].
The captain of England is not one of those who watches run totals, wicket totals, or scorecards. He thinks in a certain way. Upon viewing the footage of Bashir, he immediately forwarded it to a WhatsApp group that includes ECB managing Rob Key and head coach Brendon McCullum. “To be perfectly honest, Abu Dhabi was the first real live look I got at Bash,” Stokes stated. “I saw him for the first time on Twitter. I believe a brief video of him bowling against Sir Alastair was put together by the County Championship [account].
“Keysy, Baz, and I are members of the same WhatsApp group. After sending the video to someone, I said, “Take a look at this; it might work for our India tour,” and things took off from there. He was chosen for the Lions tour, and we can tell that the coaches there gave us their full input.”
After that, Bashir was chosen for the India tour. He proved Stokes right in England’s pre-tournament training in Abu Dhabi. He wasn’t merely an inexperienced off-spinner. His ascension was also partly because to the Indian batters’ strangely dismal record against bowlers of his caliber, with a scoring average of 33 against off-spinners, among the lowest of any elite teams.
Saying, “I just saw something,” he spoke. It was clear from the height at which he bowled that he gave the ball a lot of motion and revolutions. I believed this might be beneficial for India when I looked at it. I’ve spent a lot of time playing games here. As a batter, you are aware of the difficult situations, particularly when it comes to spin.
“To be honest, not a lot of thought went into choosing him because everyone was so delighted with what Bash displayed. And Bashir provided our spin group with the answers to everything we asked for.”
The 20-year-old’s immediate test future was in peril due to visa complications just when everything was going well. With the exception of Bashir, every member of the England team flew from Abu Dhabi to India. In order to finish the procedures, he needed to return to London. On Sunday, he arrived in Hyderabad at last and witnessed his colleagues orchestrating an incredible victory.
A few days later, it was confirmed that Bashir would be competing in the second Visakhapatnam race in place of Jack Leach. Without second thought, Stokes and McCullum selected him as the third spinner for the second Test. “Brendon McCullum, myself, and vice captain Ollie Pope, or Popey, will likely give it more thought. We examined the wicket; to give the impression that I understood what I was doing, I played around with it and gave it a tap. We have not brought Bash here to have an experience; he is a member of the squad. Stokes had stated, “We will turn to him if we feel like it. He chose Bashir in the starting XI on Thursday, thereby walking the talk. It will be Bashir’s chance to return his captain’s trust on Friday.
BY HHM