Initially catching the eye of Ben Stokes on social media, and with a shirt number, 67, to match his first-class bowling average, Shoaib Bashir’s selection for this tour of India unquestionably sat among the most curious in recent memory.
But on a soupy second day in Ranchi – a Test match in the balance, a series on the line, and Yashasvi Jaiswal again looking like an unsolvable puzzle – Bashir was the talk of the timelines. Allied by two late wickets for another relative novice, Tom Hartley, the off-spinner’s figures of four for 84 had given rise to considerable English optimism.
Not since the summer of 1995 against West Indies at home have England played a series decider at 2-2 but that prospect was now looming into view by stumps, India reaching 219 for seven in response to their 353 all out and on a pitch that was already heading south. Win here and the tour goes in the other direction: a fifth Test shootout in Dharamsala.
Nothing had been settled, not least on such a capricious pitch. But Stokes could scarcely have wished for a better response after the rout in Rajkot. Over the course of two and a half sessions on the second day, buoyed by the final runs of Joe Root’s unbeaten 122 and an entertaining 58 from Ollie Robinson first thing, they made significant progress.
Central to this was a 20-year-old who 12 months ago was searching for a county deal, let alone trying to catch the eye of the national team. Returning after his four-wicket debut in Visakhapatnam, Bashir sent down a memorable, marathon 31-over spell from the players’ pavilion end that rewarded his captain’s idle scrolling last summer.
There had been a bright start before lunch, Jimmy Anderson drawing an edge from Rohit Sharma for Test wicket No 697. But at 84 for one, Jaiswal again looking impenetrable, a grind looked eminently possible. Such thoughts were raised by edges behind not carrying, including one off Jaiswal on 40 that was ruled not out by the third umpire, Joel Wilson.
Heads could have dropped at this juncture, England’s celebrations in the huddle cut short by a zoomed-in replay that suggested the ball brushed the grass before Ben Foakes’s gloves. Robinson was the bowler denied here on a day when he asked fresh questions of Jaiswal. That said, speeds in the mid-70s were not exactly helping the issue either.
Yet by tea, having wheeled away all session, Bashir had reduced the hosts to 131 for four, snuffing out a crisp 38 from Shubman Gill lbw, repeating the trick to Rajat Patidar, and calmly teasing a bat-pad from Ravindra Jadeja after a couple of monstrous sixes. Every one was met with a forceful punch of the air; every one was a dream being lived out.
There was little doubt as to the most precious, the flaming bat of Jaiswal finally plunged into ice after tea when, on 73, an under-edge cannoned back into the stumps. It was a galling end to another special innings, one in which Jaiswal blasted his 23rd six of the series. No Indian player has struck as many in a calendar year and we are only in February.
This was also assisted by a pretty curious surface for a home side leading 2-1 with two to play, the variable bounce that reared its head on the first morning starting to return as the day progressed. It has brought England’s rookie spinners into the contest and, should they get over the line here, plenty will go back to their initial selection for this trip.
Staring at their options in a county game in which the fewest overs of spin are bowled of any domestic first-class competition, England invoked the spirit of Jim Malone in The Untouchables, ignoring the apples in the barrel and plucking them straight from the tree. They wanted tall spinners and Hartley, like Bashir, is a beanpole at 6ft 4in.
It was this attribute that brought the final two wickets of a largely one-sided day, Sarfaraz Khan falling to a sparkling catch from Root at slip on 14 and Ravichandran Ashwin lbw to one that shot low. The latter was also the third lbw of the day to be upheld on umpire’s call, the element of the review system Stokes wanted to do away with after Rajkot.
Jaiswal’s latest gem aside, this irony was possibly the chief source of Indian delight before a characterful late fightback from their wicketkeeper, Dhruv Jurel. From 177 for seven, he put on an unbroken stand of 42 with Kuldeep Yadav before the close, scrapping hard as Bashir and Hartley probed away.
But with the odd ball still shooting low off the surface during this rally, and India the side due to bat last, they still left the ground knowing they had a mountain to climb to prevent a decider in the foothills of the Himalayas.
