London, July 15, 2025 – England’s young off-spinner Shoaib Bashir won’t play the rest of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series against India because of a finger injury. The 21-year-old got hurt on July 14 during the third Test match. It happened when he tried to catch a ball off India’s Ravindra Jadeja and broke a finger on his left hand.
The Cricbuzz website says Bashir will have surgery later this week to fix it. He got injured in the 78th over of India’s first innings while going for a caught-and-bowled chance. After that, he left the field and didn’t return for that part of the game. Even with the pain, he batted in England’s second innings, scoring two runs off nine balls. He also bowled a little on the last day, taking the final wicket of Mohammad Siraj to help England win.
So far in the series, Bashir has taken 10 wickets with an average of 54.1 over three matches. He started with Somerset in 2023 and became England’s main spinner, taking over from Jack Leach. Now that he’s out, the team might call Leach back or try players like Rehan Ahmed, Liam Dawson, or Tom Hartley.
The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy is a new award for the England-India Test series, named after James Anderson, who took 704 wickets for England, and Sachin Tendulkar from India. It began this year instead of the old Pataudi Trophy. Bashir’s injury reminds everyone how tough Test cricket can be, especially for bowlers. A 1995 note on Wikipedia mentions back injuries affect about a third of young players.
Fans feel bad for Bashir but hope he gets better soon. The series will go on without him, and people are curious about who England will pick next.
