Shoaib Bashir has not made his international debut yet for England. But the off-spinner was all over the news some ten days ago. It was due to his visa not being granted by Indian authorities due to his Pakistani heritage. Non-Pakistani overseas citizens with Pakistani descent face visa issues in India as heavy paperwork is required to get a clearance.
Bashir was named in the England Test squad in December but the paperwork took time to get his visa. Without going into further details, his Visa arrived only after the first Test started in Hyderabad. Bashir was there in the England dressing room when the visitors scripted a stunning come-from-behind win over India in the first Test. Bashir was allowed by Ben Stokes to go and relax at the team hotel as he had been through a lot of travelling. But the youngster said that he wanted to be among the teammates.
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Bashir was in UAE with the England squad bound for India for prep camp. While his teammates boarded the plane to India, he had to wait for his delayed visa. Upon hearing that it would require more paperwork in UK, Bashir traveled back to his home country and got it done. Then took another flight to reach India and went straightaway to Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad to sit in the England change room.
Barely six first-class matches old, Bashir was hand-picked by captain Ben Stokes after he watched a clip of his bowling on X (formerly Twitter).
“To be perfectly honest, Abu Dhabi was the first real live look I got at Bash,” Stokes said. “The first time I saw him was on Twitter. I think the County Championship (account) put a little clip together of him bowling against Sir Alastair.
“I’m in a WhatsApp group with Keysy and Baz. I actually did forward the clip on and said, ‘have a look at this, this could be something we could work with on our India tour’ and it just progressed from there. He got selected on the Lions tour and obviously the coaches on that tour fed back everything to us,” Stokes told media ahead of the 2nd Test.
Bashir just 10 wickets in these six appearances for Somerset. His ability to land the ball in right areas and his height could be one of the reasons why Stokes was interested in Bashir.
The 20-year-old is finally here in India and with Jack Leach injured and Brendon McCullum daring to play an all-spin attack at Vizag, it looks very likely that Bashir will be making his Test debut for England.
Bashir was born on October 13, 2003 in Surrey. He bats right-handed and is a right-arm off break bowler. He made his first-class debut for Somerset against Essex on June 11, 2023, and his T20 debut for Somerset against Hampshire on June 7, 2023.
He had started his club cricket career at Guldford. In 2022, he signed up with Somerset. His impressive show in Somerset-XI matches wherein he picked 9 wickets, Bashir was offered a contract by the County side in 2023. It was here that Stokes saw him and very quickly, Bashir was playing for England Lions in October 2023. For Lions, he picked 6 wickets for 42 runs in 15 overs across two innings vs Afghanistan B. With good feedback from Lions coaches, Bashir was named in the England Test squad for the India Tests.
