XtraTime Web Desk: Left arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem on Saturday joined an elite list of cricketers from Jharkhand to play test cricket for India. He joined MS Dhoni and Varun Aaron. Nadeem was drafted into the Indian side after left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav complained of pain in his left shoulder on the eve of the third Test against South Africa at Ranchi.The cricketer from Muzaffarpur became the 296th cricketer to play for the country. He was handed over the test cap by the Indian captain Virat Kohli at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium.
Nadeem has learned ABCD of cricket from Dhanbad. At the age of just 11, Shahbaz played a division match, representing SP XI against Tata GM XI at Digwadih stadium. Young Nadeem surprised everyone with a wicket when he was only in class 6 at that time.
But very few knew Nadeem bowled medium pace during his childhood and wanted to become a fast bowler. His childhood coach Imbiaz Hussain wanted him to become a spinner and told him to bowl left arm spin, looking at his height. Nadeem learned the nuances of spin within two years. Fewer players can learn the art of spin bowling in such a short time.
Nadeem made his debut in somewhat an unforeseen circumstance. Even till Friday evening Shahbaz Nadeem was nowhere in the frame. He had just played a Vijay Hazare Trophy match in Alur, Karnataka and landed in Kolkata when the news of his inclusion in India’s Test squad came around 7 in the evening. 14 hours later, he was handed his Test cap by India captain Virat Kohli at his home ground.
Nadeem, who made his first class debut for Jharkhand 15 years ago, has taken 424 wickets in first class cricket from 110 games at an average of 28.59. He made his first class debut under MS Dhoni. The left arm spinner has been one of the top performers in domestic cricket and for India A. Nadeem started knocking on the doors after picking up 107 wickets in two seasons of Ranji Trophy between 2015 and 2017. He has for Delhi Daredevils and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League and has scalped 42 wickets in 64 matches.
Whether Nadeem will become an one match wonder for India in test cricket, only time will tell.