Khaleel Ahmed Ruled Out Of India A's Tour Of New Zealand
Left-arm medium pacer Khaleel Ahmed was on Saturday ruled out of India A’s tour to New Zealand with a fractured wrist. The young pacer fractured the scaphoid bone in his left wrist during India A’s first one-day match against New Zealand A at Lincoln on January 22.
India A had won the game by five wickets with Khaleel Ahmed playing a crucial run in the win. He had picked up 2 wickets and conceded 46 runs in his 8 overs in that match. He, however, missed the second one-day match and India A missed his services as they lost the game by 29 runs.
Khaleel Ahmed will now return to India and start his rehabilitation process at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
“His hand has been placed in a plaster cast and the left-arm fast bowler has been ruled out of the remainder of India A’s tour. NCA will manage his rehabilitation,” said BCCI in a release.
The BCCI, however, did not name any replacement for the fast bowler. Khaleel Ahmed has played 11 ODIs and 14 T20is for India. However, he has fallen down the pecking order in recent times. When he broke into the Indian team last year, he was being tipped by many to end India’s long wait for a reliable left-arm pacer.
But he has failed to grab the chance so far and now needs to do extremely well for India A and in domestic cricket to earn another recall. Earlier this month, he was also dropped from the central contracts list. He was one of the four players who were dropped from the list.
Meanwhile, India A will next face New Zealand A in the third and final match of the series on Sunday. The series is currently locked at 1-1.
