5 things that were different in cricket when Khaleel Ahmed last played a T20I
Left-arm fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed made a return to India's T20I playing XI after a gap of almost five years in the ongoing series against Zimbabwe. Ahmed played his 14th T20I match for India on November 10, 2019 against Bangladesh, and his 15th appearance came against Zimbabwe on July 6, 2024.
The left-arm pacer was away from the T20I squad for a long time, but his splendid performances in the IPL helped him return to the team. Khaleel was even present as a reserve player in India's T20 World Cup 2024 team. However, since no one got injured, he did not receive an opportunity to play.
Khaleel Ahmed finally got a chance to don the blue jersey on July 6, where he returned wicketless in his three-over spell of 0/28. Many things have changed in cricket since Ahmed's 14th T20I game, and here's a list of five of them.
#1 Virat Kohli was still India's all-format captain
More than two years have passed since Virat Kohli came out for the toss for India in an international match. He stepped down as captain in all formats of cricket after the 2022 WTC series against South Africa.
After that, Rohit Sharma has taken over as the team's captain. When Khaleel Ahmed played his last T20I, Rohit was the skipper in that game, but Virat was the full-time captain of India in all formats.
#2 Australia had 0 T20 World Cup trophies, not a single WTC Final was played
Australia won their first T20 World Cup championship in the year 2021. The Aussies did not have a single T20 World Cup trophy in their cabinet when Khaleel played his 14th T20I.
Similarly, the World Test Championship trophy was not won by any nation when Khaleel Ahmed played against Bangladesh that night. Right now, Australia and New Zealand have won one trophy each.
#3 MS Dhoni was yet to announce retirement from international cricket
Indian cricket legend MS Dhoni played his last game for India in July 2019, but he did not officially announce retirement from international cricket until August 15, 2020. Many fans believed that Dhoni would return for the T20 World Cup 2020, which eventually got postponed to 2022.
Dhoni ended his career as one of the most successful international cricketers of all time. He continues to be active in the IPL, playing for the Chennai Super Kings.
#4 IPL only had 8 teams
IPL 2019 season featured eight teams only. In fact, till the 2021 season, there were only eight franchises in the league. In 2022, Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants joined the tournament.
Gujarat even won the championship in 2022, while Lucknow have qualified for the playoffs twice in three seasons. Both teams did not exist when Khaleel Ahmed played his last T20I.
#5 Milind Kumar, Unmukt Chand, Corey Anderson, and Andries Gous were not associated with USA in any way
No one would have believed in 2019 that players like Unmukt Chand and Corey Anderson would gear up to represent USA at the international level in a cricket match in 2024. However, the same happened, and Anderson even played for USA in T20 World Cup 2024.
Current USA player Milind Kumar was a part of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru team in 2019, while his teammate Andries Gous was grinding in South Africa's domestic cricket tournaments. Really, a lot of things happened between Khaleel Ahmed's two T20I appearances for India!