England debutant Shoaib Bashir did not have to wait much before making a mark in his debut Test after India bowled to bat first. England started with James Anderson, who had replaced Mark Wood from the Hyderabad Test, in the playing XI and Joe Root and kept a check on the run-rate for the first 10 overs. Stokes then brought in a double change in the form of Tom Hartley and Bashir.
Bashir’s first delivery in international cricket, like Hartley’s, was to Jaiswal, but the treatment was not as brutal. Hartley’s first delivery in Test cricket was dispatched over the cow corner by Jaiswal, but Bashir, going wide of the crease bowled one flatter and Jaiswal went for a cut which was well stopped at backward point. Bashir would bowl three more overs before he had his glory moment when he got the wicket of Rohit Sharma with the one that turned in sharply, and the Indian skipper flicked it to the leg slip fielder Ollie Pope.
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Bashir let out a roar and celebrated his 11th First-Class wicket with a punch in the air before being mobbed by his teammates. “To get Rohit Sharma out, my first wicket feels incredible. He’s a quality player, one of the best in the world and a great player of spin as well,” Bashir told reporters after the end of day’s play.
Bashir then went on to bowl unchanged for ten overs straight, giving away just 39 runs in the process with his flatter trajectory and varying release points. Consistency was the key for the 6’4” bowler who largely kept on landing the deliveries on the same good length area. However, he did miss a few times trying to loop the deliveries and ended up giving full tosses to Shubman Gill and Jaiswal, who duly dispatched them to the boundaries, but the Somerset bowler was quick to adjust and drew back his length whenever required.
Even as Jaiswal methodically went about his business, Bashir tried to get something out of the rather flat deck with little reward, but skipper Stokes persisted with him and at the end of Day 1 bowled a total of 28 overs. He did go for a tap-in late in the day in his final spell ending up with 100 runs and two wickets to show to his name. Axar Patel slashed at an innocuous-looking delivery hitting it straight to backward point for Bashir’s second wicket.
Bashir had issues obtaining a visa on time and went on to miss the 1st Test before making it in time for the second, when asked whether he felt jittery ahead of his debut with all the drama that happened the week prior, the confident 20-year-old said he was ready and the faith shown in him by Ben Stokes and Brendan McCullum was all the more reassuring.
“I was always ready. I did get through a lot of overs, so credit to Stokesy and Baz, who backed me all the way. That shows how good they are,” he said further revealing the chat he had with the captain and coach before the game, “They basically just said ‘Remember why you started playing the game, remember your family’. He said ‘Go out there and show what you’ve got. We already know, we’ve already seen you, so go out and do what you do best’ Those words helped me massively with my confidence.”
IND vs ENG 2nd Test Day 1 Highlights
Another debutant who had a decent hit out in the middle was India’s Rajat Patidar, a run machine in the Indian domestic circuit. Patidar had to wait for his opportunity and at the age of 30, after 194 FC innings, the middle-order bat walked out to the middle as a Test player in the second session, at the fall of Shreyas Iyer.
“It was a dream come true moment for me. Representing the country is a dream for every player. Going into the middle, there was no pressure as I have played a lot of games in domestic cricket. It was normal for me, Patidar, who scored 32 off 72 balls, would later tell reporters during the post-day presser.
Patidar started his innings with a nervy nudge off Hartley towards the backward square and even more nervy running between the wickets to open his account. He began cautiously assessing his fellow debutant Bashir while against the veteran Anderson, who was brought back by Stokes to intimate the India debutant, Patidar looked even more at home negating the back-of-length deliveries with utmost ease, playing with soft hands and late.
Patidar hardly looked rushed during his stay in the middle and brought out some gorgeous inside-out shorts showing his immaculate wristwork. His first boundary shot a terrific square drive, rekindling memories of the late players of the 90s off Bashir. He then unleashed a reverse sweep through the gully for good measure, to let them know he knows and thing or two about Bazball too.
With each delivery he faced Patidar looked more and more assured in the middle. the standout shot in his brief innings was when he opened his stance to a floated delivery from Root and connected a cover drive all along the ground – an inside-out shot, if you will. Patidar’s wrist work was subtle yet captivating.
His debut knock though was cut short by a Rehan Ahmed delivery that bounced a bit too much than what he expected. However, his brief knock showed what the 30-year-old is capable of at the highest level, like how the 20-year-old Bashir showed he belongs at this stage.
But both, like any other player, know they could have done better.
“About my innings, it was good, but I had to make it big,” remarked Patidar
“I could have been a bit more consistent with my lines,” noted Bashir.
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