Avesh Khan Feels Domestic Cricket Is More Important Than IPL
Apr 21, 2019 at 1:15 AM
The 22-year-old pacer Avesh Khan will travel to England with the Indian national cricket team as a reserve bowler for the upcoming World Cup. Recently, the young pacer has claimed that domestic cricket is more important than the Indian Premier League (IPL).
England and Wales are ready to host the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup that will run from 30th May to 14th July. The two-time World Cup champions India will participate in this tournament along with the other nine teams. The no.2-ranked ODI side India will begin their World Cup journey on 5th June when they will meet South Africa at Southampton.
Recently, the national selectors announced the 15-member Team India squad for the upcoming World Cup. Besides that, they have also named four more pacers as the reserve bowlers who will travel to England with the national side. These four reserve pacers are Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini and Avesh Khan.
Currently, Avesh Khan is serving for Delhi Capitals (DC) in the ongoing IPL 2019. However, the young Madhya Pradesh pacer believes that domestic cricket is more important than IPL.
He recently told Hindustan Times, “Ranji Trophy has always been my target. My focus has been to do well in domestic cricket. It’s not that I don’t want to play the IPL but domestic cricket is more important.”
The young pacer made his IPL debut in 2017 for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). From the last year, the right-arm pacer is serving for the Delhi franchise.
Our first-class cricket is very competitive
While he hasn’t played a lot of matches in IPL career yet, he performed impressively in the last domestic season. He was the leading wicket-taker for Madhya Pradesh in the 2018/19 Ranji Trophy as he picked up 35 wickets in seven matches with an average of 16.37. The young pacer believes that Indian domestic cricket is very competitive.
He said, “Our first-class cricket is very competitive, it gives a tough challenge to any cricketer and that’s why it’s important to perform here.”
Recently, he also played for India A, and he feels that it is a huge learning curve.
He added, “Playing for India A is always a huge learning curve. You get to learn a lot. The international batsmen play fast bowling a lot better.”
I always want to be a wicket-taker for my team
Avesh Khan wants to be a wicket-taking bowler for his team. The right-arm pacer is focusing on creating the proper balance between yorker and bouncer.
He said, “I always want to be a wicket-taker for my team and for that I think I need to create the right balance between yorker and bouncers in white ball cricket. I think the length that I bowl creates problems for batsmen.”
Rahul sir always asks me to concentrate on the mental aspects of the game
Avesh Khan has also credited the former Indian captain Rahul Dravid, the head coach of India A and India U19.
Talking about him, Avesh Khan said, “Rahul sir always asks me to concentrate on the mental aspects of the game. He was a batsman and he tells me the mental approach of a batsman. He always tells me to keep the batsman under pressure. I always get motivated whenever I speak to him.”
The 22-year-old pacer hasn’t made his international cricket debut yet. However, in his early career, he has shown great potential as a pacer.