Indian limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma is impressed with the early performances of the young left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed.

The 20-year-old left-arm pacer was brilliant with the ball during the fourth ODI against Windies at Mumbai (Brabourne Stadium) on Monday night where his impressive bowling figure of 5-0-13-3 helped India to claim a record margin victory against Windies (won by 224 runs).

Also read: Windies tour of India 2018/19: Fourth ODI – Stats Review

Rohit Sharma, who won the Player of the Match award on Monday night for his brilliant batting effort as he scored 162 runs off 137 balls (20 fours and 4 sixes), remarked Khaleel as a very promising prospect.

At the post-match press-conference, Rohit said, “Khaleel is a very promising prospect. He started from Asia Cup and he showed a lot of promise which is probably why he’s in the squad. With the left-arm seamer, you always have the edge. When the left-armers swing the ball, the way Khaleel did today, it’s always going to trouble the batsmen no matter what sort of batsman he’s bowling against.”

Also read: Virat Kohli Praises The Efforts Of Ambati Rayudu and Khaleel Ahmed

The young left-arm pacer made his international cricket debut during the Asia Cup 2018 in UAE in last month, which India won under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Playing five ODIs, Khaleel has bagged nine wickets with the average of 26.11.

As India has no regular left-arm pacer at present, Khaleel has a very good chance to secure his spot for the upcoming 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in his very early age. While Rohit believes that Khaleel is maturing very fast, the limited-overs vice-captain hopes the left-arm pacer will maintain his improvement in coming future.

Rohit added, “If he’s swinging the ball the way he is, I think any batsman in the world will find it difficult. He’s maturing very fast and understands his bowling. Management also understands where he needs to be come the world cup. It’s a long time but there are going to be a lot of games before that. I wouldn’t say that the spots are guaranteed for anyone. We still have lot many games to play. I hope he continues to do that because it’s only going to do better for us in coming future.”