Shoaib Bashir, the young English off-spinner, has had a whirlwind few months since making his Test debut for England in India earlier this year. After taking 17 wickets in his first three Tests, Bashir is now set to make his debut for Somerset in the County Championship.
Bashir’s journey to the international stage has been a remarkable one. He was released by Surrey as a teenager, but after working hard to improve his skills, he was picked up by Somerset. He made his Test debut in the second Test against India in Visakhapatnam, and took 17 wickets in his first three matches.
“It’s been such a surreal couple of months,” Bashir said. “I got picked up from pretty much nowhere — Somerset came to me out of the blue and so has England as well. I’m just so grateful for the opportunity.”
Bashir’s entry into India was delayed due to visa issues, but he eventually joined the team in the middle of the first Test at Hyderabad. He made his debut in Visakhapatnam, and took 4 wickets in the match.
“It was quite special,” Bashir said. “I remember walking out there and I was shaking — I was like, ‘I’m walking out with Ben Stokes, Joe Root here, this is the experience’.”
Bashir is now keen to ace the challenge of bowling in England after doing well in India. “I’m still young, I’m still learning the game,” he said. “I’m quite excited for what’s to come. I know bowling in County Championship conditions in this rain is part of the experience as well. I’m still trying to develop my skills.”
Bashir is fine with moving to another side on loan to get game time for his development as a young spin bowler. “It’s not easy being a young kid and then getting told you’re not quite good enough to make it,” he said. “Getting up from that and knowing if you want something that bad you want to put in work for it, that’s sort of what I did. I really made an effort to improve myself as a cricketer and tried to prove a point.”
