'Good to see he didn’t remain domestic stalwart' - Wasim Jaffer happy with Shahbaz Nadeem’s Test debut

Fifteen years since he made his first-class debut, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem experienced the biggest success of his cricketing career. The 30-year-old was picked in India’s Test squad against South Africa on the eve of the final game in Ranchi that started Saturday.

He was called as a cover for Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav after the latter complained of left shoulder pain. And just a day after the call-up, Nadeem even earned his maiden Test cap as India decided to play three spinners at the JSCA International Sports Complex – Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja being the other two.

India were also playing two-seamers in Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav while Ishant Sharma was replaced with Nadeem. Captain Virat Kohli said at the toss that Kuldeep’s shoulder niggle made him an unviable option and hence the team management went for Nadeem, a local lad who has taken 424 wickets in 110 first-class matches and also has a hundred in the same. He also has 145 wickets in 106 List A games and 98 wickets from 117 T20s. The man from Bokaro was in Kolkata even a few days ago and Kohli was happy to see him earning the prestigious cap.

Wasim Jaffer elated with Shahbaz Nadeem’s debut

Former India opener Wasim Jaffer was also elated to see Nadeem earning his Test cap. He said being a consistent performer in first-class, India A and Indian Premier League games, Nadeem deserved a Test cap and that he was happy to see that his fate didn’t go the way of Padmakar Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel – two left-arm orthodox bowlers who remained domestic stalwarts but never got to play for India. While Mumbai’s Shivalkar took 589 wickets in 124 first-class games, Goel from Haryana has a phenomenal tally of 750 scalps in 157 outings.

Very happy for Test debutant Shabaz Nadeem. Consistent performances in domestic cricket, India A & IPL have earned him a deserving Test cap. Well done!!!
At one stage I felt he might join Padmakar Shivalkar & Rajinder Goel of being unlucky one's to not represent India.#INDvSA

— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) October 19, 2019

Meanwhile, India were in big trouble on the first day of the third Test as they lost three quick wickets with opener Mayank Agarwal (10), Cheteshwar Pujara (0) and Kohli (12) back into the hut. Another opener Rohit Sharma, the hero of the first Test in Visakhapatnam was defending India’s fort with vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane.

Earlier India won the toss for the third successive time even after South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis sent his deputy Temba Bavuma to the coin call in a bid to change his ill luck. India are leading the series 2-0.

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