Former England skipper Nasser Hussain feels that uncapped off-spinner Shoaib Bashir who was included in England’s Test squad to tour India will have an opportunity to learn from the likes of experienced spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The 20-year-old Shoaib Bashir came as a surprise package when earlier this week England named their 16-member squad for the India Test in early 2024. The young off-spinner has played seven List A matches and claimed three wickets. Yet the young gun has shown enough talent to be named in the England squad for red-ball cricket.
“What a thrill for him to be picking the brains of Ravi Ashwin and some of the great spinners that have ever played the game. He has fellow Somerset player Jack Leach there too, he’ll fit in absolutely fine,” Hussain said as quoted from Sky Sports.
“It’s the sort of thing India used to do by picking a young spinner,” Hussain said of Bashir’s selection. The selectors in Ben Stokes, Rob Key and Brendon McCullum have often gone a bit left-field like we saw with Josh Tongue coming in last summer and having an immediate impact,” Hussain added. England men’s managing director Rob Key didn’t hold back to express how much Shoaib Bashir’s performances in county cricket for Somerset have impressed him.
“We saw him last summer and you catch a glimpse of a few balls where you think there is something different there,” Key said speaking to Sky Sports. “Bashir is very raw and he’s going for experience as much as anything else. We won’t be afraid to play him. Hopefully, we’ll see a world-class spinner in the future.”
Along with Bashir another surprise inclusion that came during the squad announcement was England’s Test captain Ben Stokes despite being in rehabilitation after undergoing surgery on his left knee in November. Rob Key provided an update on Stokes and said, “Stokes’ surgery has been a success but we’re not expecting him to bowl. We’re confident he will be ready for the first Test. We never had him down to be bowling in India out of injury. It’s an ongoing process.” England Test squad: Ben Stokes (c), Rehan Ahmed, James Anderson, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Tom Hartley, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root and Mark Wood.
Nasser Hussain: Shoaib Bashir will “fit in” during England’s tour of India
