Image Credit- BCCI
After a day of Indian dominance put the hosts on
course for a series-sealing victory, Shoaib Bashir dedicated his maiden England
five-wicket haul to his late grandfathers as he readied himself for one more
major push in the fourth Test in Ranchi.
In India’s first innings, Bashir bowled a marathon 44 overs, finishing with
final figures of 5 for 119. He took the first four wickets during an
uninterrupted 31-over spell on the second afternoon, and he finished with a
five-for on the third morning when Akash Deep was leg before wicket for nine.
But by then, India had taken control with to a crucial
partnership of 76 between Kuldeep Yadav and Dhruv Jurel, who top-scored with 90
off 149 balls, cutting their overnight deficit of 134 to a far more reasonable
46.
After that, India’s own spinners solidified their day-long dominance by
destroying England’s second innings and bowling them out for 145, with R Ashwin
and Kuldeep Yadav taking nine wickets apiece. By the end, Bashir returned to
bowling with the ball in hand, bowling one over while Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi
Jaiswal amassed forty uncontested runs from their target of 192.
Even though his team had a difficult day, 20-year-old
Shikhar Bashir knows that, in his second Test, he will need to contribute
significantly on the fourth day if England is to have any chance of regaining
the upper hand and sending the series to Dharamsala next week tied at 2-2.
“Yeah, look, we would have liked to have got one or two wickets in that
last period, but me and Harts [Tom Hartley] know we got a job to the
tomorrow,” he told TNT at the close. “Ten opportunities to take ten
wickets, and on that wicket anything is possible.”
Regardless of the outcome, Bashir said that his rise
to prominence was “surreal,” considering that, before making his
professional debut in Visakhapatnam, he had only played six first-class
matches. Additionally, he had only recently been released by Surrey and was
playing club cricket in Guildford and national county cricket with Berkshire.
“I used to see these guys when I was a little
kid,” Bashir said. “So to be in that dressing-room, they give you so
much confidence. Stokesy and the lads are brilliant, even if that’s to go out
to bat as well. It just gets the best out of you, and it’s just a wonderful
group to be a part of.
“I just want to dedicate this to my two late granddads who passed away a
year and a bit ago,” he added. “They used to watch Test cricket all
the time on TV, sitting in front of the TV on the couch. And their wish was to
watch me play, and that didn’t happen. So yeah, it was quite emotional, but I’m
grateful.”