When Shoaib Bashir received his cap for the second Test between India and England in Visakhapatnam on Friday, his wait for his Test debut came to an end. Due to a delayed visa, Shoaib Bashir was unable to play in the first match of the series, but despite this, Bashir showed no signs of nervousness as he took the field for the first time in the England Whites.
With just six first-class matches under his belt, Shoaib Bashir could not have asked for a better wicket to start a Test career. In the second Test, he removed India captain Rohit Sharma, giving England their first victory.
Jack Leach, the left-arm spinner, suffered an injury; therefore, the tourists gave Bashir his Test debut. In his fourth over of the day, the young player got the first wicket of the day when Rohit turned one to leg slip. Ollie Pope took an outstanding catch, as the wicket was the finger spinner’s 11th in first-class cricket.
If you were to tell me that two years ago, I would laugh- Shoaib Bashir on taking Rohit Sharma as his first test wicket
Shoaib Bashir, an off-spinner for England, has disclosed that capturing the wicket of Indian skipper Rohit Sharma on the first day of the Vizag Test proved to be an extremely memorable experience for him. The 20-year-old continued to savor the moment as he thanked God and his family for shaping who he is today.
Following the day’s action, Bashir spoke with Talk Sport about the moment:
“If you were to tell me that two years ago, I would laugh. It was a very special moment receiving my Test cap and for me to get Rohit Sharma as my first wicket was very, very special,”
“He’s a great player of spin as well. I’m just so grateful to God and my family. They’ve supported me through thick and thin. I had a lot of ups and downs in my journey, so I just want to thank them as well,”
It makes it more memorable- Shoaib Bashir on delay in getting the visa
The cricketer from Surrey believed that his debut was made even more special by the delay in obtaining the visa for India. He expressed:
“I always knew I’d get the visa. I did have a few troubles with it, but look, we’re here now and I got to make my debut and it’s such a special day. It makes it more memorable, yeah. I had a bit of trouble, bit of hassle with it but to come out to India now and make my Test debut is unbelievable,”
Late in the day, Axar Patel chopped one straight to backward point, and Rehan Ahmed made a routine catch to give the right-arm off-spinner another one. His final figures for the day were 28-0-100-2.
It was a tough pitch to bowl on- Shoaib Bashir on Vizag pitch
Shoaib Bashir thought England bowled incredibly well on a docile surface, but he believes they will need to bowl out the hosts as soon as possible after India finished Day 1 at 336-6. He stated:
“It was a tough pitch to bowl on. It didn’t offer too much, but I thought the way the boys went about it was awesome for us to pick up six wickets… we’ll get again tomorrow, hopefully, get a breakthrough and get batting out there,”
India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal was outstanding, going undefeated at 179 for the day, while the other batsmen could not capitalise on their early starts .