Rohit Sharma Asked Me To Bowl ''Bindaas'' - Khaleel Ahmed

The left-handed fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed was taken to the cleaners in the T20I format of the game against New Zealand. It didn’t go as planned for the youngster, who leaked runs at a great rate. However, he has been brilliant in the death overs. Meanwhile, he revealed the impact of Rohit Sharma on him.

Khaleel Ahmed revealed that the Indian skipper has backed him to bowl with his own field settings. Further, he ensured the youngster to bowl without any pressure, as the shorter version of the game usually thrashes the figures of the bowlers.

“Rohit Bhai spoke to me after the first match. He discussed where I was going wrong and explained to me the perspective of a batsman when he comes to the crease in a T20 game. Sharma spoke on how I should prepare to take on the batsmen who are looking to attack from the word go. He spoke about the mindset of different batsmen and also how I should set specific fields for each opposition batsman. He really guided me a lot and most importantly asked me to bowl bindaas (carefree) and back my strength.” Khaleel Ahmed said.

I realised that I should not take pressure:

Further, he went on to add saying that he improved after the talk with Rohit Sharma. Khaleel explained that he had a chat with himself after the talk with Rohit. He boosted himself to come good without taking any pressure on his shoulders.

“Rohit Bhai has played so many matches and when someone like him guides you, you know how to go about the job. After all, he is one of the most destructive batsmen in the shorter formats of the game. Him coming forward and sharing that experience helped a lot as I realised that I should not take any undue pressure just because the batsmen are looking to attack every ball,” he explained to Hindustan Times.

There is no point in being over-cautious:

Ahmed furtherly explained that he got to know that there is no use of being over-cautious. He got to knew that the batsmen will keep on attacking him on every ball, for which, he needs to be ready all the time.

“After the first game I was a bit nervous since it didn’t go as per plan. But after speaking to Rohit bhai, I gained in confidence and realized that it was important to not overthink and bowl to my strength. So I followed the advice and bowled bindaas (carefree). I thought that there was no point being over cautious in my approach as T20 is anyway a batsman’s game. Backed myself and that helped as I started to pitch the slower ones and the yorkers in the right areas,” he said.

Well, it was the tough T20I series for all the bowlers. With the short boundaries and flat pitches on offer, it is obvious that the batsmen will go hard at the bowlers.