BASH BANG WALLOP!
England’s rookie spinner Bashir makes a spectacular start to Test life with two scalps, including India’s captain
It WAS somehow apt Shoaib Bashir should claim india captain Rohit Sharma as his 11th victim in firstclass cricket and, more pertinently, his first in tests.
It was the indian government who tarnished Bashir’s arrival for his first England tour at the age of 20 by delaying granting his visa until he had returned home from an Abu Dhabi training camp to present himself at their London embassy.
But the indian board are inextricably linked to the powers that be and their captain is a symbol of the most powerful nation in cricket, so there was extra satisfaction that Sharma should become the first of what England expect to be many test wickets for Bashir.
What a moment it was at the start of this second test and how delighted everyone in the camp were for their latest recruit and the third member of the rookie spin attack — with three test caps between them — jousting gamely with india in their own backyard.
England captain Ben Stokes had sought to calm Bashir’s understandable nerves before play, saying: ‘Bash, we all get nervous. We’re all feeling it, just ease your way into it.’
Then Stokes brought Bashir on for the 12th over — frankly everybody here expected him to be thrown the new ball, such is the captain’s audacity — and after getting away with a first-ball long hop he settled into a good rhythm.
Then, with his 21st ball, the novice with only six Somerset games behind him forced one of the world’s best batsmen to work him round the corner into the safe hands of Ollie Pope at leg-slip. cue a loud roar from Bashir before his team-mates mobbed him.
It was easy to see what Stokes first saw in Bashir in a video clip on X and what led Rob key to say he could potentially be England’s next great spinner.
Bashir has an easy, classical off-spinner’s action delivered from his 6ft 4in frame and immediately got a little turn from his huge hands on the flattest of pitches here after England had lost an important toss. Bad balls were few and far between but he was hit for successive fours by Shubman gill before a rare full toss was smashed for six by india’s outstanding Yashasvi Jaiswal.
When Bashir walked off at lunch, he had bowled 10 overs in succession, taken one for 39 and stood out on an old-fashioned morning of test cricket that could not have been further removed from the drama and excitement of the Hyderabad heist last Sunday.
He struck again late on the first day when Axar Patel lamely cut him to point to seal a highly satisfying, belated introduction to cricket in india just five days after arriving in the country and being thrown into the team.
There is a parallel world in which England had won the toss here and Bazballed their way to a score of almost 500 against an india side clearly rattled by the way they lost the first test and missing not only Virat kohli but also their best spinner, Ravindra Jadeja.
As it was india made a steady start before Jaiswal stepped up the pace in the final session on his way to a brilliant unbeaten 179 in india’s 336 for six.
Far from resorting to the raging turners of the last series here three years ago, at kohli’s behest after losing the first test, this was a near-perfect batting strip and india backed their remaining spinners to get more out of it than England’s novices.
Not that England could have done any more. Bashir ended up with two for 100 off 28 overs and saw Jaiswal slash a cut just beyond the diving Joe Root at slip on 155, while there were two wickets for Rehan Ahmed and one for first-test hero tom Hartley.
then there was the extraordinary Jimmy Anderson, who made his test debut before Ahmed and Bashir were born, and taking on a new role at 41 as the sole seamer in this England side.
Anderson has ‘gone under the radar’ in india according to Stokes and here he bowled beautifully without any swing or seam to assist him and had gill taken by one of two sharp catches by Ben Foakes behind the stumps.
Shreyas iyer got an under-edge off Hartley, who he drove to distraction by moving around in his crease, and was well taken low by Foakes, while Ahmed had a little luck when debutant Rajat Patidar tried to defend and saw the ball roll back on to his stumps.
But when Srikar Bharat cut Ahmed to Bashir, taking a good low catch at point just before the close, England could claim to have had the best of the day.
Throughout it all there was the left- handed Jaiswal, a very modern, enterprising product of the indian Premier League and now making his second hundred in his sixth test.
This was a brilliant display from the 22- year- old who hit five sixes, reaching three figures by hitting Hartley over long on and celebrating expressively, and was still there at the close.
Only when he was on 73 did Jaiswal offer a half chance, trying to cut Hartley and seeing Root just about get a left hand to it without holding on.
But from an English perspective, this was Bashir’s day.