From initially wanting to become a pacer to earning India's 296th Test cap, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem has come a long way.
Having made his first class debut for Jharkhand in 2004, it took the Bokaro-born only 110 matches to bag a whopping 424 wickets in domestic cricket.
When Nadeem entered history books by bagging eight wickets for 10 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Rajasthan last year, it was reckoned that he will be the next big thing in the Indian spin contingent.
Earlier this year, he had also claimed three fifers in four innings during India A’s tour of the West Indies.
However, it took him fifteen years since his first-class debut to finally don the Test whites after chinaman Kuldeep Yadav was ruled out with a sore shoulder.
On Monday, Nadeem justified his selection, bowling a wonderful spell, and finishing with figures of 11.2-4-22-2 as South Africa capitulated once again.
First Test victim
Nadeem's first Test victim was South Africa vice-captain Temba Bavuma. The left-arm spinner lured Bavuma down the wicket with a flighted delivery in the 29th over.
The ball upon landing turned sharply, away from the right-handed batsman, who was completely taken by surprise. Having completely missed the ball, Bavuma turned back to try and make it back to the crease, but Wriddhiman Saha whipped the bails in a flash.
There were a number of close calls which followed, one of them being, George Linde almost losing his wicket courtesy an outside edge which just fell short of Saha.
However, Nadeem's consistency was rewarded as he successfully trapped Anrich Nortje in front.
As South Africa continues to lose the plot even in the second innings in Ranchi, Nadeem would look to resort to what skipper Virat Kohli has often mouthed: "the only way is up."
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