Khaleel Ahmed made his international debut on Tuesday as India took on Hong Kong in their first game of the ongoing Asia Cup in UAE.
Ahmed received his debut ODI cap from captain Rohit Sharma becoming the 222nd player to represent India in the 50 overs format.
The 20-year-old Tonk born pacer has been in the reckoning for some time, he also idolises Zaheer Khan. The left-armer is on the fast track and has been around in the IPL for three years.
Khaleel was first picked by Delhi Daredevils in IPL 2016 but didn’t get to play for them. However, he spent valuable time under the then coach Rahul Dravid and captain Zaheer Khan.
Later, Khaleel was picked by the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise at the 2018 IPL auctions, for Rs 3 crore. He played one match for them this season.
Meanwhile, Twitter is delighted with Khaleel Ahmed’s inclusion in the Indian side.
Here is how Twitter reacted:
Congratulations Khaleel Ahmed on earning your maiden #TeamIndia cap against Hong Kong in #AsiaCup2018 👏 pic.twitter.com/VkJFb83JIU
— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) September 18, 2018
Khaleel Ahmed makes his ODI debut
-Was with DD in 2016 and 2017. SRH in 2018
-From Tonk, Rajasthan
-Clocked 148 kmph in the recently concluded Mushtaq Ali tournament (Took 17 wickets in 10 games)
– Idolises Zaheer Khan. Has trained with McGrath & Ryan Harris#AsiaCup2018 #INDvHK— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) September 18, 2018
A debut for Khaleel Ahmed. Still relatively inexperienced but highly rated within the cricket community in India
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) September 18, 2018
As expected, Khaleel Ahmed gets his maiden ODI cap #INDvHK #HKvIND #AsiaCup2018 pic.twitter.com/BbXXmxHGOv
— CricketTimes.com (@CricketTimesHQ) September 18, 2018
Congratulations Khaleel Ahmed On India Cap 🧢 #AsiaCup2018 #TeamIndia
— Rajesh Khilare (@Cricrajeshpk) September 18, 2018
becahara Khaleel Ahmed is gonna spend his entire career without ever having his name pronounced correctly. Laxman Sivaramakrishnan just called him Kalil.
— Hassan Cheema (@mediagag) September 18, 2018
Rohit Sharma hands over the cap to #KhaleelAhmed
What a moment for the young pacer!@BCCI #INDvHK pic.twitter.com/6FsKzseGsY— निष्कर्ष (Nishh) (@Nishkarsh1108) September 18, 2018
#KhaleelAhmed Young Left Arm Pacer Debut For INDIA 🇮🇳
Hope He will shine Like #ZaherKhan #AsishNehra 🙌— Pavan Kumar Gowda (@PavanJagger) September 18, 2018
Good luck, Khaleel Ahmed 👍🏼 https://t.co/2CNlaS1pLE
— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) September 18, 2018
Big day in the life of #KhaleelAhmed . An India cap is a special moment. Congratulations young man! #AsiaCup2018
— Mikkhail Vaswani (@MikkhailVaswani) September 18, 2018
Khaleel Ahmed gets ODI cap. He is exciting talent and left arm fast. 🇮🇳🇮🇳 #AsiaCup #INDvHK #AsiaCup2018
— Abhiraj Singh "Chowkidar"Gohil (@ImAbhi4852) September 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/RoutAbhiruchi/status/1042013881785360384
Best of luck #KhaleelAhmed ! Congratulations for the #IndiaCap !💐 Go & express yourself on the field!👍
— Shubhadip Mukherjee (@shuvo285) September 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/ImVpatel/status/1042005124963434496
