Shoaib Bashir put England on top on day two of the fourth Test match at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi by scalping four wickets. The young English offie removed the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rajat Patidar to leave the hosts reeling at the end of day two. (IND Vs ENG 4th Test Blog | Cricket News)
Post the conclusion of day two, former skipper and centurion in Ranchi, Joe Root sang praises of the young spinner.
"The way he (Bashir) bowls is a great little insight into his character and personality, he is quite cheeky and great fun to be around.
"There's clearly a huge amount of skill in what he does, as he proved with the way he bowled for not just small spells but a long period of time," Root said.
However, very few know that Bashir has come through the IPL outfit, Rajasthan Royals' academy in Surrey, England where the then 16-year-old caught the eye of the late Shane Warne.
Bashir, now 20, was at the academy when Warne came to have a small interaction with the kids and it seemed the Aussie great was left impressed with the young offie.
Siddartha Lahiri, head of coaching at RR Academy, remembered the chat that was exchanged between the two.
“Are you a spinner or a fast bowler?” asked the former Australian leg-spinner, according to Lahiri. “Spinner,” responded Bashir, who’s an offie.
“What do you need to do then?” the Aussie quizzed him again. It’s one of those trick questions, Bashir reckoned. “Bowl?”. Warne corrected him, “No, spin the ball. Don’t think of anything else. T20, T10, five-day, four-day, nothing. Just spin the ball.”
Lahiri recalled that Bashir was a shy kid and his focus was only family and cricket. But Bashir did come across few bumps on the road in his career. Firstly, he was identified as a batter who could bowl and secondly, he did not feature in age-group county squads.
However, that did not deter him and he kept his career going.
“By the time he became 13-14, he was quite tall in terms of his age group. He had the height and a natural action. Even bowling medium pace, he had that action where he could bowl offies and release the ball from a height. That’s how spin bowling started for him,” Lahiri was quoted in The Indian Express.
Bashir was not offered a contract at the Surrey Cricket Club but he then turned to Berkshire U-18's and then impressed with the Somerset's junior team as well. From then onwards, his career started in the upward trajectory.
The youngster would make his debut for England in the second Test match against India in Visakhapatnam where he scalped three wickets on debut and four in the match.
For a youngster, to come to India and claim wickets in his first Test, really speaks volumes of Bashir, who is just getting started in Test match cricket.
