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Shoaib Bashir: Two balls to Alastair Cook and a WhatsApp forward from Ben Stokes earned him Test debut vs India



 Shoaib Bashir will make his debut in the second Test against India. He was spotted on social media by England captain Ben Stokes, who saw him beat Alastair Cook

About six and a half months ago, a 19-year-old Shoaib Bashir made his first-class debut for Somerset in an English County Championship match against Essex. He bowled 49 overs for just one wicket in that match, which Essex won by 196 runs. His next five matches weren't great either. He picked up nine more wickets at an average of 67. But these are plain numbers. In reality, Bashir didn't need the scorecard to push his case. His first over in County Cricket was enough to impress England's Test captain, Ben Stokes.

The young off-spinner, however, should thank the social media account of Somerset Cricket and the fact that Stokes is fairly active on X (formerly Twitter). The X account of Somerset uploaded a small video of Bashir's first over where he bowled to Sir Alastair Cook, an outstanding player of spin.

Bashir has a non-traditional run-up and action for an off-spinner. Instead of easing his way to the crease, he hurries into his stride, but his tall frame allows him to deliver the ball from a good height. That can, at times, create an illusion in the batter's mind about the flight of the ball. Like it did for Cook. Not once, but twice. The legendary cricketer was beaten twice by Bashir in his first over. Although Cook went on to score a superb 128, those two six deliveries that he faced off Bashir were all that Stokes wanted to see.

The England captain is not one of those to look at scorecards, run-tally or number of wickets. He has his way of thinking. The first thing he did after watching that video of Bashir, was to forward it to a WhatsApp group where head coach Brendon McCullum and ECB managing Rob Key are a part. "To be perfectly honest, Abu Dhabi was the first real live look I got at Bash," Stokes said. "The first time I saw him was on Twitter. I think the County Championship [account] put a little clip together of him bowling against Sir Alastair.


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