A home debut 19 years in making for Nadeem
RANCHI/NEW DELHI: Friday’s late release from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was as big a hint as India would drop ahead of the third Test that left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem would be making his debut at home.
“Basically, we were looking to play three spinners here. Kuldeep (Yadav) had some issues with his shoulder. The selectors picked Nadeem because his performances speak for himself. He has some 420-plus wickets (424) in first class cricket. He’s a consistent bowler and, of course, these are his own home conditions,” said Vikram Rathour, India’s batting coach.
It will be some story for this son of Javed Mahmood, a police inspector who was posted in Bihar and Jharkhand. A sharp fielder and a decent batsman, Nadeem, 30, learnt his cricket in Dhanbad. He reached the team hotel around 11:15 pm on Friday.
Nadeem’s elder brother Assad Iqbal too played first-class cricket but couldn’t continue because the family was apprehensive of both pursuing a career in sport. “We feared what would happen if it didn’t work out so the elder one gave up. A career in sport wasn’t popular back then,” said Mahmood. Iqbal is an engineer working in Delhi.
A 22-yard cement pitch was built at home and Imtiyaz Hussain, now in his 70s, roped in as Nadeem’s first coach. A precocious youngster, Nadeem would come with Assad who was then an under-16 captain for Bihar. SA Rahman, former secretary of Dhanbad’s district cricket body, remembered how as an 11-yearold, Nadeem took two wickets in a league match in Dhanbad and became a regular player for his team Indigo. “Many Ranji Trophy players took part in the league,” said Rahman.
By the time Nadeem was 13, he was playing for India under-15s, when he was 16, he debuted for India under-19s, said Rahman. Looking for a better platform to get into the India side, he switched to Bengal from Jharkhand in 2007-08 for a season but couldn’t break into the playing XI. He returned to Jharkhand.
Soon luck smiled on him and a man-of-the-match performance in the final of Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2010-11, that helped Jharkhand win the title, got him an IPL contract with the Delhi Daredevils. He had been with the Delhi franchise since, moving to Sunrisers Hyderabad only this season. Although not setting the stage on fire, he has often produced decent spells in the T20 tournament. But it was the longer format where he found his calling.
Nadeem, who has been playing for Jharkhand since 2004, finished the 2015-16 and the 2016-17 seasons as the highest wickettaker in the Ranji Trophy with 51 and 56 wickets respectively. In 2018-19, he set a List A record taking eight wickets for 10 runs against Rajasthan in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
“I found him sorted from a young age,” said former India wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta. They had played a Duleep Trophy together in 2006-07, said Dasgupta who is here as a television commentator. “What is remarkable about him is that he has moved out of his comfort zone. He was successful in the IPL where he would bowl flat, restrict batsmen and no one would have blamed him had he kept things that way. But he cut down on speed and made his deliveries more loopy. His action is more compact now and instead of using his shoulder, he uses his body to bowl. So he is more in the mould of a traditional left-arm spinner,” said Dasgupta.
“The stories of Nadeem and Mayank (Agarwal) are proof of what you get when you take domestic cricket seriously,” said Dasgupta. “This is where Nadeem has got the bulk of his wickets and I am hopeful of him having a good debut,” he said.