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On a day the English bowlers failed to impose themselves on the India batters, until the fag end of Day 2 with the hosts already leading by over 250, England's spin bowling coach Jeetan Patel showered praise on 20-year-old Shoaib Bashir for toiling away and being rewarded with four wickets by the close of play in scenic Dharamshala.
Finding an extra bit of purchase from the surface in the final session of play on the second day of the fifth and final Test, the Pakistan-born Bashir extracted extra bounce and sharp turn to collect four scalps. His victims were in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal (57), Devdutt Padikkal (65), Sarfaraz Khan (56) and wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel (15). Before his workmanlike figures of 4/170 in the ongoing fifth Test, Bashir, last week, sent down a whopping 70 overs in the Ranchi Test, eventually coming away with a cut on his spinning figure. He also skipped England's final training session on the eve of the Dharamshala Test due to illness. At the close of play on Day 2, Patel, a former New Zealand international, was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo, "Look, it's a hell of an effort. He was ill the day before the game. He wasn't well yesterday. And he's still a little bit iffy today, but to then go bang out 45 [44] overs and nearly knock off a five-for ... you could say he deserves it, but no one deserves anything in this game." "It's one of those things, he's put in a hell of a shift for us. So has Tom Hartley. So has Mark Wood, Jimmy Anderson, all the bowlers really, all the fielders. To have them eight down is a great sign going forward. We're going to have tough days in Test cricket. And, today was one of them. If you put enough hard yards in, eventually the circle turns and it comes back on you. There are a lot of tired guys in there and rightly so. They put in a big shift," the Kiwi added. Bouncing back from precarious situations has been a recurring theme for the Three Lions since Brendon McCullum took over as head coach and Ben Stokes came in as the captain in the red-ball format. The Headingley Test against bitter rivals Australia in the 2019 Ashes series and the current series opener are two illustrations of how England turned the odds upside down to clinch victory. While bossed the first two sessions of play on Day 2 at the HPCA stadium, with skipper Rohit Sharma and partner Subhman Gill scoring sparkling centuries to put the hosts in the driver's seat, Bashir picked up four wickets to give the visitors some hope by the close of play on Day 2. "They are young guys trying to forge their career in international cricket. It's the one thing that we keep trying to believe, that this is the most exciting time of your career, and you should want to celebrate every wicket. And you should want to have as much fun as you can with your teammates," Patel said, praising Bashir's relentless spell and rewards. "That's the beauty of having unscarred players in the team. That's a tough day for Bash or anyone playing Test cricket. But he hasn't had the scars and that's exciting to have because he bowls the next ball with energy whether it's gone for four, six, dot, wicket, it doesn't matter. That's the most pleasing thing," he added. Despite the fall of wickets in the final session, England were left frustrated by India's ninth-wicket pair of Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, who held fort and drove the hosts' lead past 250. Further weighing in on the lion-hearted efforts of spin twins Bashir and Tom Hartley, which gave the visitors hope of doing an encore of their famous win in Hyderabad, Patel said, "We spoke about it this morning ... 'why not just show off, what does it matter?' It's the last Test, you're not going to play for another six weeks, at least, it's a great chance to show the world the skills you have got. That's the most pleasing thing for me, to see him and Harts show off the way they did and ask some good questions of the best batters in the world." (ANI)
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