England off-spinner Shoaib Bashir was the best bowler for England in the India first innings of the ongoing fourth Test match in Ranchi. Bashir became the second youngest England bowler to grab a Test fifer on February 25, 2024.
Bashir picked 5/119 at the age of 20 years and 135 days and dedicated his achievement to his late grandfathers, who were passionate followers of red-ball cricket. Bashir bowled across three sessions and had 32 overs under his belt, including 31 overs on the trot from the dressing room end.
"It was a very special moment on my journey. Two years ago, I wouldn't have thought anything like this (would happen) but that was special. It was quite emotional as well, actually -- I lost my two granddads about a year and a half ago and they used to just sit and watch Test cricket all the time. Their wish was to see me out on the TV, I know they're supporting me from up above,” Bashir said in a presser after day four.
"Stokesy and the boys are incredible. They give you so much confidence in anything you do. If that's me going out to bowl or bat, they're so good confidence-wise. I know tomorrow I have a job to do me and Tommy (Hartley) are really excited about the challenge. We saw how Ashwin and Jadeja bowled on that wicket and we take huge confidence from that,” he added.
He was confident that England had a good chance of winning the Test. The visitors were bowled out for 145 in their second innings and with 46 runs of lead, managed to set 192 runs for India to chase down. Out of this, the India openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal have wiped 40 runs off.
"It's 10 chances to take 10 wickets. Massively (we can win). Me and Tommy are really excited about tomorrow. That pitch is deteriorating quite a bit now. We saw some pop from a good length and some roll. That's good signs for us and we're really excited. We're two tall spinners and we have tall release points. Stokesy and Baz picked us for a reason. We've just got to go out tomorrow and hopefully win a Test match.
Yeah, probably. The roller does have an effect but the pitch is deteriorating massively so anything can happen tomorrow. We're really excited for what tomorrow will bring,” he added.
(PTI inputs)
