Shoaib Bashir's meteoric rise to the highest level is well encapsulated by the fact that there was a space of just 8 months between his First Class and Test debuts. A tall and lanky off-spinner, Bashir was fast-tracked into England’s setup after skipper Ben Stokes was impressed by a clip he saw on social media of the then 19-year old Bashir bowling to Alastair Cook. While his rapid advancement and inclusion in England’s squad for their tour to India in early 2024 was astonishing, Bashir had shown great promise in the little senior level cricket he’d played. He was offered a contract for 2023 by Somerset after impressive performances for the Second-XI and made his FC debut in June of 2023.

It was during an England Lions tour to UAE, however, that Bashir really caught the attention with a stellar show against Afghanistan B. Come January 2024 then, despite Bashir having just 6 First Class games under his belt, the Stokes-McCullum management was convinced he’d be a potent weapon in subcontinent conditions. And thus, just 8 months after his First Class debut in June 2023, Bashir was playing his first Test match in February 2024 at Visakhapatnam. Although England were soundly beaten in the series, Bashir scalped 17 wickets in just three games to end as England’s second-highest wicket-taker of the series.

Once more, to many’s surprise, the England management saw it fit to pick Bashir over his Somerset teammate and England’s long-standing spinner of choice Jack Leach for the summer of 2024.

He played all the Tests in the English home summer of 2024, and starred in the second innings of the Trent Bridge Test where he picked 5/41, becoming the youngest English spinner to take a fifer at home. Bashir has also become the first choice travelling spinner for England, being played ahead of Jack Leach on their recent tours to Pakistan and New Zealand.

Facts
> Bashir stands at 6’4 ft tall

> In the 1st Test against the West Indies in 2024, Bashir did not bowl a single ball and was run-out without scoring a run. He also did not take any catches

By Anurag Hegde