[5][6] His family roots lie in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir and he speaks the region's Pothwari dialect of Punjabi at home while also being conversant in Urdu.
[17][18] On 15 July 2023, he featured on finals day as Somerset beat Surrey and Essex to win the T20 Blast at Edgbaston Cricket Ground.
It was Bashir's first-class debut playing against Essex and he bowled two deliveries in his opening over to Alastair Cook which went onto impress Stokes.
[27] Stokes then forwarded the video of Bashir's bowling to a WhatsApp group which England head coach Brendon McCullum and ECB managing director Rob Key were part of.
[28] Stokes convinced England selectors and roped in Bashir for their five match test series in India which was scheduled to commence in January 2024.
The decision to select him as one of the frontline spinners for the tour raised eyebrows of many as it ended up as a surprising choice given Bashir only played six first class matches at that time when he received the callup.
[29] On 11 December 2023, Bashir received his maiden call-up to the senior England side, being included in the 16-man squad for the test tour of India.
Bashir had returned home from Abu Dhabi in order to resolve a visa delay that prevented him from travelling to India with the rest of the squad.
[35] The British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, was also involved in sorting things out for Bashir in order to make him safely land in India amid visa concerns.
[37] The UK PM's Office insisted that it expected India to treat British citizens fairly after expressing its disappointment over not granting a visa to Bashir.