Shoaib Bashir had been in the news for all the wrong reasons. On Friday, he hit the headlines for the right reasons.
The 20-year-old England off-spinner, who had to return home from the team base of Abu Dhabi to sort out his visa issues while his teammates left for India, made a promising debut in the second Test here. His first wicket was that of the India captain Rohit Sharma and he also took the wicket of Axar Patel late in the day, to add to India’s woes.
After bowling more overs than anybody else in the England attack, he said Rohit’s wicket was very special. “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,” Bashir said. “He is a great player of spin as well.”
He was confident that he would get his visa. “I always knew I would get the visa,” he said. “I did have a few troubles with it, but look, we are here now and I got to make my debut and it is such a special day. To come out to India now and make my Test debut is unbelievable.”
