Bowler Shoaib Bashir could become ‘one of the best of a generation’ insists England spin-bowling coach Jeetan Patel ahead of deciding test with Pakistan

Shoaib Bashir has the potential to become as good as Indian spin legend Ravichandran Ashwin, according to England’s spin-bowling coach Jeetan Patel.

Thrust into the international game after just six first-class games for Somerset, the 21-year-old Bashir had taken 38 wickets in 11 Tests at 37 each going into this Thursday morning’s decider against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.

Ashwin, who was 25 when he first played Test cricket, had 60 wickets at 31 at the same stage, and has gone on to become an all-time great, with 528 wickets at 23.

But Patel, a former New Zealand off-spinner, is so confident of Bashir’s potential that he did not shy away from the comparison.

‘Bash has always had a lot of natural talent,’ he told 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.

Spin-bowling coach, Jeetan Patel says Bashir could be as good as India’s Ravichandran Ashwin

India’s Ashwin, 38, is considered a generational talent achieving many major career accolades

‘The ceiling is so high. He’s the sort of bowler who can bowl in all conditions, not just in England or the subcontinent. 

‘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.’

England went into Wednesday’s game with a three-pronged spin attack, with Bashir accompanied by county team-mate Jack Leach and 20-year-old leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed.

But while Leach enjoyed a strong domestic season, taking 45 championship wickets at 22, Bashir at one stage had to join Worcestershire on loan to get a game, while Ahmed managed only 13 wickets at 60 for Leicestershire.

‘I’d love them to bowl more, and affect more games,’ said Patel. ‘The reality is most county teams will pick only one spinner, if any. 

Patel (left) says Bashir (right) the 21-year-old bowler’s ‘ceiling is so high’ in all conditions

County team-mates Jack Leach (left) and Bashir play a key role in England’s three-pronged bowling attack

England face off against Pakistan for the fourth game on Thursday morning, in a series decider

‘That’s just the way it is. It’s great that Bash and Leach are at Somerset together, but we also want them both playing, and it doesn’t always work that way.

‘We all want games to go the last session on day four and it’s spinning, but that’s not the way pitches are built in England and we don’t have the weather conditions. It’s more frustrating when games are over in two days to seam. That’s stupid. It’s an actual lottery.

‘Guys like Bash, Rehan, even Jacob Bethell to a degree and Carson at Sussex are young spinners who have got something about them. They’ve got so much to offer. It’s exciting.’