England spin-bowling coach Jeetan Patel has heaped praise on Shoaib Bashir, asserting that the young England off-spinner has the potential to be as good as R Ashwin.
Bashir has had mixed success on England's tour of Pakistan, where he struggled in the opening Test but took four wickets in the second innings of the tourists' loss in Multan. He made two crucial breakthroughs in Pakistan's first innings in Rawalpindi, however, dismissing Abdullah Shafique to give England their first wicket before finding Shan Masood's outside edge to get the first breakthrough on the morning of day two.
Jeetan Patel: Bashir can emulate Ashwin
Speaking ahead of the game, Patel, a former New Zealand international who took 65 wickets in his 24 Test career, praised the potential Bashir has shown in his burgeoning career.
"Bash has always had a lot of natural talent," he said in an interview with Mail Sport. "He's already got a lot of the attributes you'd want to teach a spinner. Tall, strong action, long fingers, and he spins the ball really hard.
"The ceiling is so high. He's the sort of bowler who can bowl in all conditions, not just in England or the subcontinent."
Bashir was first selected in England's Test squad earlier this year for their tour of India. Before he was called up, he had only played six first class games for Somerset, taking 10 first class wickets at an average of 67. He enjoyed success in India, however, taking a five-wicket-haul in his second Test match and another in the final Test of the series at Dharamshala.
Following that series, Bashir was selected as England's first choice spinner across their home summer, even when Jack Leach was recovered from a knee injury, and took a memorable five-for against the West Indies in Birmingham. Going into England's final Test in Pakistan, Bashir had 38 wickets from 11 Tests with an average of 37.
Despite India spin legend Ashwin having significantly more wickets than Bashir at the same point in his career, Patel did not shy away from earmarking the young spinner for similar greatness.
"He has three or four different types of spin - square spin, over spin, and the degrees within that. You watch Ashwin bowl, and how he uses them all, Bash is not that far down the track, but he possesses the talent to try to access that.
Ashwin has 531 wickets from his 104 Test matches, and has been a dominant force for India at home for almost a decade. No off spinner has more Test wickets than Ashwin, with Nathan Lyon, his closest rival, just one wicket behind him.
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