"I’ve accepted it’s going to be hard" - Rehan Ahmed on bowling on Indian pitches ahead of Test series
England's young leggie Rehan Ahmed stated that he has accepted it will be challenging to excel in Indian conditions against some of the best batters of spin. The teen cricketer believes that there's a lot of time for the IPL and he'll get opportunities in the future too, but his focus is on turning up for England as much as possible.
Rehan is one of the four specialist spinners selected in the Test squad alongside Jack Leach, Tom Hartley, and Shoaib Bashir. The 19-year-old played his only Test against Pakistan in Karachi and took 7 scalps, including a five-wicket haul in the second innings.
Speaking to The Telegraph, the youngster revealed a few people telling him about the risk of burning out soon due to too much franchise cricket. He elaborated:
"I’ve accepted it’s going to be hard. I’ll try my best. That’s all I can control. I’m just looking forward to playing Test cricket again. The least I could do is make sure I’m fully ready for whatever I can be for England."
"There’s a lot of time for IPL and stuff if I get the chance again, and if I don’t get the chance to do it, I’m fine with that as well. I spoke to a couple of people - if you want a long career, you don’t want to burn out too soon. Just being ready for England is my main priority."
Rehan had initially given his name for the IPL 2024 auction but pulled out a day before the event. As one of the most promising leg-spinners, he would have fetched a good amount.
"I don’t like focusing on new things while in competition" - Rehan Ahmed
Rehan underlined that a Shane Warne-like flipper is something he is working on and wants to learn how the latter used to set batters up for that. He added:
"I don’t like focusing on new things while in competition - I keep it as simple as I can. But I’m sure when I have two or three weeks off I can put my head down and work on something special. I think the flipper’s a nice ball to have, especially in T20 cricket - even Test cricket, the way it’s going right now. Flipper’s a nice ball to have, seeing Warney the way he used to bowl it as well, the way he used to set batsmen up."
The first Test between India and England begins on January 25th in Hyderabad.