From tennis ball cricket to team India, here's the amazing journey of Khaleel Ahmed

With a background of just one full season of domestic cricket and only two first-class matches, the son of a hospital compounder has made his way into the Indian dressing room

Syed Khaleel Ahmed, a 20-year-old left-arm pace bowler from a small town of Rajasthan, has now become the talk of the town. Not because of his cricketing heroics but for his inclusion in the 16-member Indian squad for the upcoming Asia Cup.

For those who don’t know or remember, Kahleel is one of the students from the ‘Rahul Dravid School of Excellence’. He was one of the integral members of the India U-19 World Cup squad in 2016, lead by Ishan Kishan and guided by the former Indian skipper.

Khaleel was still a lesser-known name in the Indian cricketing arena before he bagged a whopping Rs 3 crore Sunrisers Hyderabad contract in the recently concluded season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, he got to play just one game in the entire tournament and remained wicketless.

After an ineffective IPL stint, Khaleel got fast-tracked into the India A squads for a tour of England in June-July and the recently concluded A team quadrangular series. In his last nine outings for India A, he has picked up 15 wickets, without going wicketless in any of the matches.

With a background of just one full season of domestic cricket and only two first-class matches, the son of a hospital compounder has made his way into the Indian dressing room. In the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he played 10 games and took a total of 17 wickets. He ended up being the second highest wicket-taker in the tournament with an exceptional average of 15.53.

Since he grew up playing tennis-ball cricket on the muddy surfaces of Rajasthan, he is well aware of extracting bounce even on docile surfaces - which could come in handy in the Asia Cup in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

After his maiden Indian call-up, Khaleel spoke to media and expressed his happiness.

“Now that I have got selected, I want to play a maximum number of matches for India & not just the Asia Cup. I want to play for at least 10 years & take as many wickets as I can,” he said.

The brewing star draws inspiration from Zaheer Khan. Back in 2016 and 2017, he was drafted in the Delhi Daredevils side but he was benched for both the seasons. Still, he got the opportunity of training with the former Indian legendary pacer and learn quite a few things from him.