Watch the video that convinced Stokes to pick Bashir for India

With Jack Leach injured and a visa issue out of the way the young off-spinner will make his debut in the second Test

Ben Stokes believes Shoaib Bashir is ready to thrive in India, with the rookie spinner primed to make his debut in the second Test in place of the injured Jack Leach.
Leach has been ruled out of Friday’s second Test with the knee injury he sustained in the unforgettable series-opening win in Hyderabad. Leach bowled through the injury but the swelling has not gone down quickly enough. It is hoped, however, that he will be ready for the third Test in Rajkot on February 15.
In his absence his Somerset team-mate Bashir is in line to debut, although skipper Stokes insisted England want to take one more look at the surface on the eve of the game before committing to an XI. Having moved from the black soil of Hyderabad to the red soil of coastal Vizag, it is expected this pitch will be truer, but will break up, with help from the warmer weather.
Of Leach, who got injured in his first game after a stress fracture of the back, Stokes said: “Unfortunately the knock he’s took resulted in a hematoma – it’s a big shame for us, especially after a long time out of the game with his back. Obviously it’s frustrating but it’s something we’re assessing every day. The medical team have taken over and hopefully it’s not something that’s too serious and keeps him out for longer in the series.”
England are unlikely to make just the one change. Rehan Ahmed, who missed training on Wednesday because he was fasting, could drop out, with an extra seamer selected on the harder pitch. Both James Anderson and Ollie Robinson – whose bounce England value – will be in contention along with Mark Wood, who went wicketless in Hyderabad, and the uncapped speedster Gus Atkinson.
Bashir seems poised to come into the side, with Stokes saying a two-minute clip of the 20-year-old bowling to Alastair Cook in the County Championship last season was enough to convince him he had the attributes to thrive in India, despite the fact he has picked up just 10 first-class wickets in six matches. 
19-year-old off-spinner Shoaib Bashir has looked very assured on first-class debutHe’s bowled beautifully to Sir Alastair Cook: here’s all 25 balls of their morning contest#LVCountyChamp pic.twitter.com/WWvkg5iLOn
Stokes acknowledged that some would see Bashir – as well as Tom Hartley, who took nine wickets on debut in Hyderabad – as “leftfield” picks, before adding: “We don’t see it that way. We see it as ‘these are our best options in India.’”
England have been impressed with how the youngster has responded to a difficult fortnight in which he was locked out of India due to visa issues related to his Pakistani heritage.
“To be perfectly honest, [England’s training camp] in Abu Dhabi was the first real live look I got at Bash,” said Stokes. “The first time I saw him was on Twitter. I think the County Championship [account] put a little clip together of him bowling against Sir Alastair. I just saw something. The height he bowled from, it was very obvious that he put a lot of action, a lot of revolutions on the ball. It was something I looked at and thought, this could be pretty good for India.
“Getting someone so young with what I thought was a lot of potential into this environment was a punt worth taking, because we pick the team that we think has the ability to win us games out here. The height he delivers the ball from, the amount of natural variation that he can produce, which is a handful out here. I’ve played a lot of games out here, as a batter you know what is hard to face, especially from a spin point of view.
“I’m in a WhatsApp group with Rob Key and Baz [McCullum]. I did forward the clip on and said, ‘have a look at this, this could be something we could work with on our India tour’ and it just progressed from there. He was selected on the Lions tour and obviously the coaches on that tour fed back everything to us. When it came to selection, there wasn’t too much thought around him to be honest because everyone was very, very impressed with what Bash showed. And everything we wanted in our spin group was answered by Bashir.
“Especially the first week in Abu Dhabi he didn’t just bowl the same ball over and over again. He’s a young kid who’s finding his way and he’s a real sponge at the moment and I think that’s because of how young he is. He’s got an unbelievable coach here in Jeetan Patel and he’s also got someone in Jack Leach who’s a massive help, particularly with their Somerset connection. If he was to play on this tour the great thing he has going for him is what is there to lose? That is how I will be thinking about it if he gets the chance to play.
“Bash is in the squad, we haven’t brought him here to have an experience. If we feel we want to turn to him, we will.”