5 reasons why selectors missed a trick by omitting Khaleel Ahmed from the World Cup squad

The Cricket World Cup 2019 is all set to commence from 30th May 2019. The hosts England will lock horns with South Africa in the opening match of the tournament. While India is all set to start its campaign against South Africa on 5th June 2019 and they are scheduled to play arch-rivals Pakistan on 16th June 2019 in one of the most awaited encounters of the tournament.

The selected Indian squad for the World Cup has almost all the bases covered. The squad has Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami as the fast bowling options. While all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Vijay Shankar can also be handy with their seam bowling in English conditions.

With English pitches all set to help the seam bowlers, there could have been a case of including a left-arm seamer in the squad as well. A left-arm fast bowler is always a big asset in any team’s pace battery. Team India seemed to have an effective left-arm fast bowler in the form of Khaleel Ahmed when he made his debut against Hong Kong in Asia Cup 2018.

Here are 5 reasons why selectors have missed a trick by omitting Khaleel Ahmed from the World Cup squad

1. A different angle

The 21-year-old lanky pacer from Tonk, Rajasthan made his ODI debut against Hong Kong in the Asia Cup 2018 where he had a brilliant start to his International career. Chasing a target of 286, Hong Kong had a terrific start for the opening wicket as the two openers Anshuman Rath and Nizakat Khan put on 174 runs for the first wicket. They were all set to create a huge upset against India. It was the match-winning spell delivered by the debutant in which he took three wickets for 48 runs that shifted the match towards India. Hong Kong eventually fell short by 26 runs.

Khaleel, being a left-arm bowler can create different angles while bowling. A right-handed batsman may find it difficult to take on a left-arm fast bowler especially in the death overs. He can bowl over the wicket and is also effective while bowling around the wicket to the right-handers. He is good at the reverse swing and has a deceptive slower ball as well.