England spin duo of Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed will reunite only for the second time in a Test match together for their country in Rawalpindi, the series finale against Pakistan. While Bashir has become the first-choice spinner for England, Rehan has stayed on fringes while being called up on the Asian tours when the team has required multiple spinners. Bashir became a regular in England's line-up since the tour and both will be playing together after the Vishakapatnam Test against India earlier this year.
Ahead of the Rawalpindi clash, both Bashir and Rehan opened up about their Pakistani heritage and if they can speak or understand Urdu. "My Urdu is not too bad. It’s all right. I can try to hold a conversation, but it would be a bit mixed. I can understand everything," Rehan said while speaking to BBC Sport.
Bashir chipped in soon while revealing a hilarious incident involving Mohammad Rizwan, who obviously likes to talk. "I’m pretty similar. I can understand everything and I can reply, but it’s a bit broken," Bashir said. "Sometimes the Pakistan team are speaking in their own language and we’re trying to get hints. I’ll go to Ben Stokes and say ‘he’s going to slog it over mid-wicket’.
“I went out to bat, Mohammad Rizwan was behind the stumps and he likes talking. As soon as I went out he said ‘this guy understands Urdu, let's speak Pashto’, and I had no idea what was being said," he added.
While Bashir has a Pakistani father and mother born in the UK, he was born in England and that has been his first team. "I was born in England, so I’ve always been an England fan. Whenever Pakistan played India or whoever, I supported Pakistan. I loved watching the Ashes and highlights of England cricket. Pakistan was my second team," Bashir said while Rehan mentioned that he has a huge family in Pakistan. The leg-spinner revealed that his father still supports Pakistan even though he wants his son to do well but can't watch him do well when his team ends up on the losing side.
Bashir and Rehan will form a three-pronged spin attack for England with Jack Leach as the third tweaker. The series is level 1-1 and both teams would want to seal the decider to win the series.
