Khaleel Ahmed Reveals Who Helped Him To Get Back In Rhythm During New Zealand Tour
Feb 13, 2019 at 10:28 PM
The 21-year-old Indian left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed credits the stand-in-skipper Rohit Sharma to guide him well in the recent T20I series in New Zealand.
After playing one ODI each in Australia and New Zealand tours, Khaleel Ahmed played three T20Is in New Zealand. The left-arm pacer had a hard experience in the first T20I of that New Zealand tour at Wellington. While India lost that game by 80 runs, he was very expensive as his bowling figures were 4-0-48-1.
However, he made a good comeback in the next T20I at Auckland and delivered the bowling figures of 4-0-27-2. The visiting side India won that game by seven wickets and levelled the series by 1-1.
After the conclusion of that New Zealand tour, Khaleel Ahmed revealed that Rohit Sharma’s advice helped him to make a strong comeback in quick time. While the young pacer was very expensive in the first T20I, the Indian stand-in-skipper thoroughly discussed his bowling. Later, Rohit Sharma also advised him to bowl carefree which Khaleel Ahmed felt the most important word for him.
Recently, Khaleel Ahmed revealed to Hindustan Times, “Rohit bhai spoke to me after the first match. He discussed where I was going wrong and explained to me the perspective of a batsman when he comes to the crease in a T20 game. He spoke on how I should prepare to take on the batsmen who are looking to attack from the word go. Rohit bhai spoke about the mindset of different batsmen and also how I should set specific fields for each opposition batsman. He really guided me a lot and most importantly asked me to bowl bindaas (carefree) and back my strength.”
Was very excited about playing in New Zealand
Since his international debut from 2018 Asia Cup, Khaleel Ahmed has played eight ODIs and nine T20Is till the date. He has picked up a total of 21 wickets in the international career (11 ODI wickets and 10 T20I wickets).
Khaleel Ahmed was very excited to play in New Zealand as he had heard that its condition offered a lot for the pace bowlers. As the New Zealand condition favours for the swing bowlers, he was seriously looking forward to playing there.
The young pacer said, “Was very excited about playing in New Zealand as I had heard that there is good bounce and the breeze helps the fast bowlers. I was really looking forward to playing in conditions that favours swing bowling.”
Khaleel Ahmed admitted that he was nervous after the first T20I. However, Rohit Sharma’s advice helped him a lot to back to the rhythm.
He added, “After the first game I was a bit nervous since it didn’t go as per plan. But after speaking to Rohit bhai, I gained in confidence and realized that it was important to not overthink and bowl to my strength. So I followed the advice and bowled bindaas (carefree). I thought that there was no point being over cautious in my approach as T20 is anyway a batsman’s game. Backed myself and that helped as I started to pitch the slower ones and the yorkers in the right areas.”
In the three-match T20I series in New Zealand, the left-arm pacer picked up four wickets. He had the bowling figures of 4-0-47-1 in the last T20I of the series at Hamilton. India lost that Hamilton T20I by four runs and lost the T20I series by 2-1.