After the second T20I between the hosts Australia and the visitors India at Melbourne on Friday (November 23) that was washed out due to rain, the young left-arm Indian pacer Khaleel Ahmed claimed that he has learnt some important things from the senior bowlers and support staff.
While the 20-year-old Khaleel was bashed in the first T20I at Brisbane (1/42), he bowled far better in the second T20I at Melbourne where he had a bowling figure of 4-0-39-2.
After the Melbourne T20I, Khaleel said about his learning, “I have learnt a lot in the past few months, especially how to prepare for a game and how seriously you need to take this profession. I have learnt three things – professionalism, maturity and responsibility from the senior bowlers and support staff.
“Someone like Bhuvneshwar Kumar, he is a strike bowler at the moment and leads the team with responsibility that he needs to take wickets. He bowls to a particular line and length, and this is something you get to learn from him – how to bowl with so much responsibility as he bowls in all formats.”
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Playing the Melbourne T20I, Khaleel has played six ODIs and five T20Is since making debut in this September during the 2018 Asia Cup in UAE. Speaking on his bowling in the unfamiliar Australian condition, Khaleel feels a little bit difficult to adjust in quick times after not getting enough practice matches.
The left-arm pacer said, “Conditions are different here. Against the West Indies or in Asia Cup, we played in subcontinent and in familiar grounds. When you come to Australia, there weren’t many practice sessions and it isn’t easy to figure out which line/length is the best option here. So it isn’t easy to come and play here. If you don’t have ample practice sessions and then suddenly play T20 matches where batsmen own the game, it is a bit difficult. And you cannot even get relaxed against a team like Australia because they fight until the end as their lower order showed today.”
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Khaleel believes they could win the Melbourne T20I if the rain didn’t wash out the game. The Indian bowlers this time bowled very well as the Australian batsmen mostly struggled and managed to score 132/7 in 19 overs before rain-interrupted the game.
The match was very close to restarting several times, even sometimes the fielders and batsmen just started to walk on the ground, but always the rain returned unconvincingly and stopped the game without starting the second innings. In the end, the match was abandoned.
Khaleel said about the second T20I, “Rain disappointed us because it breaks momentum especially when you know what the target is. Because of rain targets can vary from bigger to smaller and it gets frustrating as a team when you go out to bat after a weather break. The target was low because we bowled well. We could have won the game with a good batting performance. But unfortunately rain didn’t help.”
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In the Melbourne T20I, Khaleel shared the new ball with the right-arm pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. However, in the Brisbane T20I, Khaleel started as the third bowler.
Speaking about to get the new ball in the second T20I, Khaleel said, “The thought was that I can swing the new ball so that would be better if I could take early wickets. So they gave me confidence to take the new ball and in my mind I had the same thing that if I get the new ball, I would try to generate swing and utilize it by taking wickets. I think I used it well and took wickets.”
After losing the first T20I at Brisbane by four runs (DLS method), the second T20I had failed to produce a result. Now, the third and final T20I of the series, which will be played on Sunday (November 25) at Sydney, will be the must-win game for India to save this series. Khaleel is confident that the team will perform better in the third T20I to save the series.
Khaleel claimed, “Dressing room spirits are high because we know we have played well in both games and can do the same in the last game as well. So, in the third game we aim to play even better and try to draw the series on Sunday.”
