Young left-arm pacer Khaeel Ahmed was given the opportunity to lift the trophy after India beat Windies by 9 wickets to clinch the series at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvanathapuram on Thursday.

India won the series 3-1 after the second ODI ended in a tie in Visakhapatnam and Windies won the third ODI in Pune. Khaleel played an important role in India’s win as he scalped a two-wicket haul to help the hosts bundle out Windies for a paltry 104.

During the post-match presentation, Khaleel was once again given the chance to lift the trophy, something which he did after India beat Bangladesh to lift the Asia Cup 2018 title earlier this year.

Khaleel had earlier revealed that it was MS Dhoni who asked then-skipper Rohit Sharma to let the youngster lift the trophy.

“Dhoni bhai asked Rohit Sharma to let me hold the trophy on the dais. He gave me the trophy because I was the youngest member in the team and it was my debut series. It was a memorable experience for me,” Khaleel was quoted as saying by Times of India after India’s title-winning campaign in UAE.

It seems the Virat Kohli also stuck with that same philosophy and let the youngest member of the team lift the trophy.

After catching the eyes in Asia Cup, Khaleel once again came up with the goods and ended the series as the third-highest wicket-taker with seven wickets in four matches. Khaleel was only behind spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav in the list.

First Published: Nov 02, 2018 15:30 IST