PAK VS ENG: Rehan Ahmed Exciting young Wrist spinner is ready to debut

PAK VS ENG: England captain Ben Stokes wants to hand a Test debut to leg-spinner, Rehan Ahmed. The tourists hold a 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Having looked at the surface in Karachi, Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum believe the leggie could be a difference maker. “We’ve been thinking about it (playing Ahmed). We can’t go into too much detail until me and Baz have had a look at the wicket,” Stokes told reporters. “When we spoke about having Rehan in the squad, it was more than just bringing him in and integrating him into the team.

“We discussed having no issues selecting him if we felt he was the right option. If he was to play, this is not a case of giving caps away. We picked him in the squad not just because of his talent, but because we thought it would be a good opportunity to play if we thought it was necessary.”  Ahmed, it is worth noting, was added to their squad during the pre-tour camp at Abu Dhabi and wasn’t named in the original team. But he was and is rated so highly due to his ability to generate plenty of spin from the wrist – a trait for which he was praised by none other than the late great Shane Warne. He has regularly showcased his ability to the world too.

He began the year by claiming 12 wickets during the U-19 World Cup and made his first-class debut shortly after that. Ahmed has trained with the senior England white-ball team and was always on the path to being fast-tracked to the senior set-up. Another thing that works in his favour is that he is a handy bat lower down the order too.

It is why he is being considered for a debut, too – he would be the ideal replacement for Liam Livingstone, who got injured in the Rawalpindi Test. And he’s shown that ability for the England Lions, too; during the England vs Lions warm-up match, Ahmed scored a handy 26 off just ten balls. “I’m struggling to work out what he is, whether he’s a batter or leg-spinner, which is I guess good because it shows just how much talent he’s got,” Stokes said of his talent. “We briefly got snippets of what we can do with the bat in that warm-up game. But having a wrist spinner is always exciting, especially for England.

“But it’s not getting too carried away with the potential that he has, because he is only young and you’ve got to nurture talent, even how exciting it is.” Should he be selected for the third Test in Karachi, Ahmed would become the youngest-ever debutant in England men’s cricket history. He has been a sub-fielder often during this particular tour, but being handed a full-time debut would mean much more to a player who is already clearly seen as a star for the future. 

Only time will tell how well he does, but it is impossible not to be excited for the future of the 18-year-old prodigy.