Shoaib Bashir becomes youngest English bowler to pick multiple fifers before turning 21

Dharamshala, March 9 (IANS) England young off-spinner Shoaib Bashir became the first English bowler to pick up multiple 5-wicket hauls in Test cricket before turning 21 during the day three of the fifth and final Test match against India at HPCA.

Bill Voce, James Anderson, and Rehan Ahmed are the only other Englishmen with 1 fifer before 21.

Day 3 of the Test match witnessed Bashis’s brilliance as he spun a web around the Indian batting lineup, claiming the prized wicket of Jasprit Bumrah (20) to secure his second five-wicket haul in Test cricket before the age of 21. Debutant Devdutt Padikkal (65) and Sarfaraz Khan (56) could not convert their fifties into tons as Bashir sent them back. Dhruv Jurel (15) were his other victims. Bashir finished with a figure of 46.1-5-173-5.

While he missed the third Test, he took his maiden fifer in the preceding fourth game (5/119 & 3/79). With another five-fer, he has raced to 17 Test wickets, averaging 33.35. Bashir made history by becoming the second-youngest English bowler to take five wickets in a Test match earlier in the 4th Test at the JSCA International Complex in Ranchi. Rehan Ahmed holds the record for the youngest England bowler to pick up a five-wicket haul.

Rehan accomplished the feat at the age of eighteen years and 126 days. Contrarily, Bashir accomplished the feat at the age of twenty years and 133 days. In Test matches against India, Bashir is one of the six spinners for England to record multiple 5-wicket hauls.