Who is Shahbaz Nadeem? The Local Boy Who Makes Test Debut for India Out of Nowhere!

With India Spinner Kuldeep Yadav ruled out of the third Test match against South Africa at Ranchi, Shahbaz Nadeem was added to the squad. Till Friday (October 18) evening, none knew him. But, now he sure will be topping many people's search history, for he is making his Test debut for India out of nowhere.

“I don’t think it’s gonna be slow but it will keep lower than Pune maybe. Should spin at a decent pace. As long as it turns with pace on the ball, we don’t mind the bounce. Just one change - Ishant has been given a break. Shahbaz Nadeem makes his debut. Two seamers for reversing the ball. Unfortunately, Kuldeep couldn’t pull up. We checked on him yesterday but he didn’t respond well enough from his shoulder niggle. Nadeem is the local boy and it’s a dream debut. I’m really happy for him. It’s about playing consistent cricket for us. We’ll have to continue to work hard and look to win sessions of cricket. That’s the only message I look to pass on,” Virat said at the toss.

15 years after making his first-class debut in a match in which MS Dhoni was part of, the 30-year-old left-arm spinner, today, will partner with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as the team decided to enter with three spinners. 

Nadeem is one of the top performers in domestic cricket and for India A. With 424 first-class wickets from 110 matches at an average of 28.59, Nadeem was waiting for team India's call, apparently for a long time.

He has also played for Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and has scalped 42 wickets in 64 matches. In 2018, Nadeem got a team India call up for T20 series against West Indies but was not part of the playing eleven.