The Unheard story of Rehan Ahmed | The Potential Youngest Test Debutant of England
The English prodigy Rehan Ahmed, who is now 18 years old and 103 days and most definitely will debut for England during their tour of Pakistan for a three test match series, is on the verge of being the youngest debutant for England in tests. If he does debut for the English side, he will break the record of Yorkshire’s Brian Close, who debuted for England back in 1949 against New Zealand at the age of 18 years and 149 days.
His young age is not the only exciting thing about him. Both his bowling and batting skills have been exceptional for as long as the cricketing world remembers. For instance let us blow your mind by chronicling one of his triumphs here. The whizz-kid was only 11 years old when he rolled his arm over in the nets and bowled the likes of Alastair Cook and Ben Stokes out.
Rehan, who is only 18 years and 103 days old, has been signed by Leicestershire till the year 2026. Making his first-class debut for the mentioned county earlier this year, he has so far donned the Leicestershire uniform only 3 times. However, he already has a five-for and a century to his name in first-class cricket.
In shorter formats of the game, the Nottingham-born has been equally brilliant. He has represented the English side in the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year and ended up as the side’s second highest wicket taker. The leg spinner played 4 matches and got 12 strikes to his name conceding runs at an economy of 4.19 only.
The young all-rounder has played the 100 ball cricket league, The Hundred, as well where he was bought by the Southern Brave.
This time it was the eye of Brendon McCullum who saw the ‘raw potential’ in the young bowler and added him to the squad who will be visiting Pakistan to play in December, thinking that the series can prove to be beneficial for the Leicestershire all rounder. Talking about the newest inclusion, Baz said “We know he’s not the finished article and has raw potential, but Ben (Stokes), myself and the rest of the coaches like how he approaches his game. The experience of being part of the squad in Pakistan will be hugely beneficial for him, and he will add to the make-up of our squad.”
It merits a mention that the 18-year old was supposed to visit Pakistan earlier this year as well to play in the Pakistan Junior League. However, he was taken out of the tournament by the English Board later. Interestingly, the teenage cricketer’s parents are Pakistani which makes his visit to Pakistan more exciting for him. While talking to cricinfo, he said, “My dad is from Pakistan and I have family there, so I’ve been [there] a few times. We’re from a place called Mirpur. Whenever I’ve been, I’ll go to the stadium and train and you’ll have a load of bowlers ready to bowl to you, and a load of batters ready to bat. Every time I’ve been, it’s always been great: the way they look after you there is crazy. It would mean the world to represent England in Pakistan. It would be great.”
The English team is currently in Abu Dhabi and will fly to Pakistan on Saturday to play the test match series which will kick start on the first of December.
