Going into a five-day game with just one pace option looked a remarkably bold move a week ago but, with 18 of India’s 20 wickets falling to spin and the other two to runouts, the Kiwi is mischievously flirting with an even more maverick selection.
After watching Tom Hartley take 9 wickets on debut, including a decisive 7 for 62 on the final day, he is entertaining the idea of throwing another newcomer into the mix if India serve up a spinner’s paradise in Visakhapatnam on Friday.
Twenty-year-old Shoaib Bashir only touched down in India at the weekend, with his arrival delayed by visa issues related to his Pakistani heritage, but is already under consideration to make an unprecedented five-pronged spin unit alongside Hartley, Jack Leach, Rehan Ahmed and Joe Root.
“He comes into the calculations,” McCullum told New Zealand’s SENZ Radio. “If the wickets continue to spin as much as we saw in the first Test, as the series goes on we won’t be afraid to play all spinners, or a balance of what we’ve got.
“We’ll have a look at conditions and make a call. You’re not going to get every call right, especially over here – it’s hard to read some of the wickets. But we’ll make a decision and go quids in on trying to commit to that. Then we’ll see where we land.” Playing at least one fast bowler is still the likelier outcome, with the ability to change the pace of the game still a valuable string to captain Ben Stokes’ bow and the country’s record wicket-taker James Anderson eager to get into the series. But where off-spinner Bashir is concerned, it is clear he is not merely along for the ride. Despite only playing six first-class games to date, he earned rave reviews for his efforts in the recent training camp in t h e U n i t e d A r ab Emirates and has finally put his travel woes behind him after being sent back to London to secure the required embassy stamp.
“Bash was obviously with us during our camp in Abu Dhabi and he really impressed with his skillset,” McCullum said.
“ Like Tom Hartley, he was a guy who we looked at and thought, ‘He’s got some skills which could assist us in these conditions’.
“When you see guys you think are good enough, and who you think are going to suit the conditions, it’s sort of horses for courses. Sometimes, you’ve got to be a little bit brave with selections.”
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