Who is Rehan Ahmed? How Bowling to His Brother Helped England’s Youngest Men’s Test Player Take First Wicket?

On his debut, the young leg-spinner picked up two wickets with his father Naeem watching on among a sparse crowd at the venue. His first wicket was Saud Shakeel, caught at forward short-leg by a diving Ollie Pope for 23 in his seventh over.

Later in the innings, the leggie, who received his Test cap from former skipper Nasser Hussain, trapped Faheen Ahraf in front of the stumps with a googly and ended his debut innings with figures of 2 for 89.

The youngster, who was on England’s radar for quite sometime now, met the legendary Shane Warne when he was a 13-year-old with the Australian great praising him and tipping him to be playing first-class cricket by the time he turns 15.

In video that has been shared widely on Social Media since the youngster was named in the England squad, Warne tells Ahmed: “That is awesome man! Really, really good, I am going to keep a close eye on you. I think we will be commentating on you very soon. I think you are going to be playing first class cricket by the age of 15!”

What Rehman Ahmed said on his debut

After first the day’s play when he ended with figures of 2 for 89 in 22 overs, as quoted by the Daily Mail, the youngster admitted that he didn’t expect to be a part of the starting eleven and added that he had a sleepless night on the eve of the Karachi Test.

“I didn’t expect to play,’ he said. “I just came on this tour to get better, but they’ve given me a chance. I didn’t sleep at all last night. I was very nervous before the first ball, but the whole day was good.”

1

54788

Ahmed admitted that he was a little erratic in his first spell but captain Ben Stokes didn’t care about the runs he conceded as they were looking to get wickets and a wicket he finall got in his second spell.

“I tried to put as much spin both ways and hope he nicks it,” he said of the first wicket. “I rushed a little bit in that first spell, but Stokesy didn’t care about runs – he just wanted wickets.”

Rehan Ahmed on how bowling to brother helped him

Ahmed explained how he got the wicket of Shakeel and said that he first went with the googly and the leg-spinner. The 18-year-old said that bowling to his brother, who is a left-hander has helped him a great deal.

“I’ve been bowling at left-handers all my life, as my brother’s left-handed and I used the tactic against him: googly, then leg-spinner and it worked. It’s the best day of my life. I believe in myself, and I couldn’t ask for more,” said Ahmed.

Now, Rehan and England will look to bundle out Pakistan for a lower total to try and complete a white-wash. As it stands at stumps on day 2, Pakistan trail England by 29 runs with 21 for 0 on board in 11 overs of the second innings.

Earlier, England bowled out Pakistan for 304 in the first innings and rode on a hundred from Harry Brook to take a lead of 50 runs, folding up for 354 in their first innings.