Khaleel Ahmed Laughed When He Was Asked Whether He Missed Virat Kohli
Feb 9, 2019 at 1:36 PM
After India won the Auckland T20I, the young pacer Khaleel Ahmed faced the post-match press conference where he was asked whether he missed the Indian skipper Virat Kohli or not. The left-arm pacer felt discomfort to answer that question and laughed in reply.
Coming to the game from 1-0 behind, the visiting side India clinched an easy victory in the second T20I of the series on Friday (8 February). The Indian bowlers performed very well at Auckland as the hosts only managed to score 158/8. While the Player of the Match award winner Krunal Pandya (3/28) bagged three wickets, the left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed (2/27) took two wickets in the game.
In reply, the openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan provided the perfect start with a 79-run partnership. The skipper Rohit Sharma scored 50 off 29 balls while Shikhar Dhawan played the 30-run knock.
Later, Rishabh Pant and MS Dhoni calmly guided the visiting side to the seven wickets victory. India reached the target in 18.5 overs while Rishabh Pant was batting on 40 runs and MS Dhoni played a 20-run not out innings.
During the post-match press conference, the reporters asked Khaleel Ahmed whether he missed the skipper Virat Kohli in the game or not. In reply, the young pacer had a discomfort laugh and later said, “Next question please”.
Khaleel Ahmed talked about their game-plan
Khaleel Ahmed revealed why they mostly bowled back of the length during Auckland T20I. As the ground was small and there was no swing available, they had to utilise that technique.
The young left-arm pacer said, “Because the ground was small, we deliberately bowled back of length to curtail boundaries. We had to shorten the length as conventional swing was not on offer. We showed a lot of improvement today and hope to improve further in the next game.”
He further added that the stand-in-skipper Rohit Sharma guided them to bowl properly in the game.
The left-arm pacer added, “Rohit bhai told us about which were the areas the batsmen will target and how to cut the angles.”
The young pacer Khaleel Ahmed has played only 16 international matches (eight ODIs and eight T20Is). He speaks about the challenge to bowl in New Zealand and later calls it is a great experience.
He added, “One difficulty that we face in New Zealand while bowling is running into the wind which is a rarity elsewhere. But then these are little things that you learn and it’s a great experience.”
Both teams have won one game each in this series. On Sunday (10 February), New Zealand and India will meet in the final T20I of the series at Hamilton.