One cannot say that Shoaib Bashir did not make his final involvement of England’s series against India a telling one. Nursing a broken pinkie finger on his non-bowling hand, the spinner had shown admirable bravery to play through the pain to deliver the match-winning moment; an innocuous off-spinner blocked inadvertently on to his stumps by Mohammed Siraj as a solitary bail’s tame tumble brought an end to a slow-burn thriller of a Test match.
And so ends Bashir’s Test summer, with the 21-year-old ruled out of the remaining encounters at Old Trafford and The Oval. It is a shame for a bowler who needs as much cricket as he can get; currently unable to force his way into the Somerset side and seeking a new county contract next year yet first choice for his country, his is an odd situation. This England environment have backed Bashir to the hilt, and he may well have assurances that he will remain at the top of the pecking order come the Ashes this winter.
