The meteoric rise of social media has transformed the way we communicate and share information around the world. It has the power to turn any ordinary person into an overnight star.
England's uncapped spinner Shoaib Bashir is also a beneficiary of social media as one of his viral clips influenced his selection for the ongoing India tour.
Ahead of the second Test against England in Vizag, skipper Ben Stokes revealed how he was left impressed by Bashir's bowling, which he saw via a clip posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Bashir bowled a brilliant spell against former England captain Sir Alastair Cook on his first-class debut for Somerset against Essex last year.
While Bashir returned with only one wicket, he managed to leave a lasting impression on Stokes, who felt the off-spinner could come in handy during the tour of India.
Stokes then forwarded Bashir's clip to ECB’s director of cricket Rob Key and head coach Brendon McCullum.
"To be perfectly honest, Abu Dhabi was the first real live look I got at Bash. 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 quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
"I'm in a WhatsApp group with Keysy (Rob Key) and Baz (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 got selected on the Lions tour and obviously, the coaches on that tour fed everything back to us."
Due to visa delay, Shoaib Bashir couldn't arrive in time for the first Test against India. After the issue was resolved, he landed in India on Sunday (January 27).
As England’s first-choice spinner Jack Leach has been ruled out of the second Test due to a knee injury, Bashir might get a chance to make his debut in Vizag.
According to Stokes, it was a no-brainer to have the youngster in England's squad and he could be lethal on the sub-continent pitches.
"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.
"When it came to selection, there wasn't too much thought around him to be honest, because everyone was very, very impressed with what Bash showed. And everything we wanted in our spin group was answered by Bashir,” he concluded.
