STAR SPORTS DESK

The tales of captain Imran Khan plucking Wasim Akram and Inzamam-Ul-Haq from the streets and making them members of his World Cup winning Pakistan side in 1992 are the stuff of cricketing folklore.

But as Bob Dylan had prophesied, the times have truly changed, as a 20-year-old British-Pakistani off-spinner, Shoaib Bashir, is set to make his Test debut for England today after catching skipper Ben Stokes’ eyes in X, formerly known as Twitter, of all places.

On June 11, 2023, the England County Championship posted a video of Bashir on its X-handle, where he was seen testing the veteran Sir Alastair Cook on his first-class debut.

Although Bashir took only one wicket in that match, the 1:57 minute-long video was enough to convince Stokes that the off-spinner could become a vital part of the Test squad for next year’s India tour.

“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,” Stokes told cricket website ESPNcricinfo.

“I’m in a WhatsApp group with Keysy [managing director Rob Key] and Baz [coach Brendon McCullum]. I actually did forward the clip on and said, ‘have a look at this, this could be something we could work with on our India tour’ and it just progressed from there,” he added.

Although Bashir’s first-class record is quite modest, having taken 10 wickets in six games at an average of 67, Stokes was confident that he would be a handful on Indian soil.

“I just saw something. The height he bowled from, it was very obvious that he put a lot of action, a lot of revolutions on the ball. It was something I looked at and thought, ‘This could be pretty good for India.’ I’ve played a lot of games out here. As a batter you know what is hard to face, especially from a spin point of view,” Stokes said.

Bashir made headlines before the series, after not being allowed to fly to India with the rest of his teammates following a pre-series camp in Dubai due to visa issues.

He finally landed in India on January 27, the third day of the Hyderabad Test, which the visitors won by 28 runs.

Bashir has been named in the playing eleven for the second Test starting today, in place of injured off-spinner Jack Leach. He will have the formidable task of bowling against a wounded Indian team but one thing is for certain, his captain will back him to the tilt.