Just three years after being awarded a coveted double First from Cambridge, alumnus Zafar Ansari has added another impressive achievement to his CV by making his debut in the England Test cricket side. 

As announced on Thursday, the Trinity Hall alumnus will replace his Surrey teammate Gareth Batty in the England squad as they take on Bangladesh in Dhaka in the second match of a two-Test series. England won the first Test by 22 runs on the final day in Chittagong last week.

Ansari’s inclusion represents a gamble by England, as doubts remain around the left-handed spin bowler’s suitability for international Test cricket. Captain Alastair Cook told the BBC: “We don't know a huge amount about either Batty or Ansari in terms of Test cricket, we could easily have picked them the other way round but they will get one Test each and that is important.”

The high achiever’s first Test appearance for England might have looked a distant dream during his time at Cambridge when he admits cricket took a bit of a backseat. “I wanted to prove that I could cope and excel at Cambridge as well as being genuinely a professional cricketer,” he told ESPN last September. “I wanted to show that I could do both.

“But cricket wasn't my priority while I was there. It was a luxury that I had in terms of cricket being a summer sport that I wouldn't have had if I had been playing rugby or football. And getting a good degree was more important to me than whether or not I became a professional cricketer.

“There is the expectation at Cambridge that everything you do is dedicated towards your academic work, which is on a pedestal. Getting back to cricket after you’ve been there is a challenge. My director of studies, David Runciman, was very interested in cricket but, with some of my other tutors, if I said I have to go and play this game there was a sort of scepticism about it and a questioning asking me why in a world-class academic institution I was playing a game that doesn't really matter.”

Even with more than just an eye on his studies, Ansari, who passed his degree in Politics and Sociology at Cambridge with the highest possible honours, and who has recently submitted a 40,000-word Master’s dissertation on the civil rights movement in America’s southern states, found the time to dedicate himself to cricket. In 2010, he joined up with Surrey County Cricket Club and helped them earn promotion to Division One of the Championship last year. He made his debut for Cambridge University Cricket Club against Essex a year later, representing the club until 2013. Now, only three years later, with just a single One Day International cap to his name, Ansari has managed to secure his very first taste of international Test cricket.

Cambridge graduate selected for England cricket squad

Typically a back-up to Batty at Surrey, the 24-year-old now finds himself picked ahead of his senior colleague. And it’s a route into the team that’s been far from plain sailing, with a serious thumb injury sustained last September ruling him out of that winter’s tour of the UAE.  

Ansari’s inclusion in the squad has been welcomed with open arms by his new teammates. Jonny Bairstow, who set a new record for runs scored by a wicketkeeper in a calendar year in the last Test – taking his total up to 1,091 and counting – was optimistic about what Ansari could bring to the team. He told BBC Sport: “The pace that he bowls and the control that he has can only be a positive thing for us.

“The bite that he’ll get out of the wicket being a left-arm orthodox bowler – it’s a good asset for us.”

Ansari, meanwhile, has more than Bangladesh on his mind, with a five-Test series against India coming up for England this November. “People will be constantly making judgements about my performance,” he told the BBC’S Test Match Special, “but I’m on the tour to India and I've been bowling well in the nets. I see this as the first game of many.

“In England, as a spin bowler, most of the time you are fighting the conditions so this changes your relationship with the ball. You can let the pitch do some of the work for you out here. It is great preparation for coming up against some of the best batsmen in the world out in India”