Leicestershire head coach Paul Nixon (left) presented Rehan Ahmed with his county cap, earlier this year (Twitter/@leicsccc)Rehan Ahmed is 17. He looks 14. He rips big googlies, and legbreaks, that have gone viral in England cricket circuit. Especially the googlies. He will now play against the Indians in their tour game against Leicestershire that starts today. He is an allrounder and has starred for England U-19s, and for Leicestershire in the recent times.
๐ง @RehanAhmed__16 bowled to Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Alastair Cook in the Lord's nets in 2017.
He was THIRTEEN ๐ณ pic.twitter.com/5t5R6fUjk8
— LV= Insurance County Championship (@CountyChamp) February 3, 2022
Five years ago, when he was just 13 years, he had taken out three England captains – Ben Stokes, Alastair Cook, and Joe Root. He was a nets bowler at Lordโs, then. Ahmed showed a sense of humour when he talked about the experience.
17 years old and bowling googlies like this.
Sensational from @RehanAhmed__16 ๐ฅ#Blast22 pic.twitter.com/2XxaNCK7hg
— Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) June 19, 2022
โThat was an unbelievable experience. I got Ben Stokes out, Alastair Cook and also Joe Root โ caught at extra cover but no-one mentions that one. Stokes and Cook snicked me behind,โ Ahmed once told News.co.uk.
1๏ธโฃ8โฃ | ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ก๐ฆ๐๐! ๐คฉ
Baker looks to sweep but is bowled by @RehanAhmed__16 ๐ณ
๐134/8, requiring 29 from 12 balls.
— Leicestershire Foxes ๐ (@leicsccc) June 5, 2022
โWhen I got Ben out he got quite angry so I didnโt celebrate too much. I just couldnโt believe it. I wanted to bowl as well as possible so I tried to imagine I was just bowling to a club batter. Then I looked and I just couldnโt. I was running in thinking, thatโs Alastair Cook down there. Alastair Cook!โ
1โฃ1โฃ | Ahmed strikes. ๐
A great response by the teenager. A few lusty blows earlier in the over, but @RehanAhmed__16 traps Hose leg before with the final ball. โ๏ธ
๐ป 85/4
— Leicestershire Foxes ๐ (@leicsccc) June 2, 2022
From being an awed kid, he has seamlessly moved to be a viral sensation. Ahmed had come through the Nottinghamshire youth ranks before he switched to Leicestershire.
1๏ธโฃ3๏ธโฃ | Rehan grabs his second. ๐ฅ
A googly from @RehanAhmed__16, swept by Benjamin, but straight to Patel at backward point. ๐
๐ป 98/5
— Leicestershire Foxes ๐ (@leicsccc) June 2, 2022
Ahmed, who is coached by his father Naeem who shifted to England from Pakistan in his late teens, started off as a seam bowler but it was height that made him abandon it. โI couldnโt bowl bouncers because I was too small! . โIf I was going to bowl seam then I wanted to be fast. I was having a net with a really close friend of mine, Akif Farooq, his dad and my dad. Akifโs dad was a very useful spinner so he told me to try off-spin.
Another one. ๐ช๏ธ@RehanAhmed__16 – the kid's special. ๐ฅ#Blast22 pic.twitter.com/QJLCQT7fcH
— Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) June 19, 2022
โI bowled one ball that didnโt land properly, so then I tried leg-spin โ it landed half-decently so I stuck with it. I also realised that there werenโt too many leg spinners in the world and I wanted to be different.โ
Forget star of the future, @RehanAhmed__16 is star now! โญ๏ธ #Blast22 pic.twitter.com/aSi7ajUEkQ
— Vitality Blast (@VitalityBlast) June 21, 2022
His twitter feed is a good place to start. It has videos of him winking out hapless batsmen with his googlies. Naeem had brought his 8-year old son to open trials at Nottinghamshire and was soon drafted into the system. Later, he would move to Leicestershire.
4๏ธโฃ-0๏ธโฃ-2๏ธโฃ2๏ธโฃ-4๏ธโฃ.
Hear from @RehanAhmed__16 after he claimed his ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ซ-๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ฌ into this afternoonโs win at Durham. ๐คฉ
— Leicestershire Foxes ๐ (@leicsccc) June 19, 2022
He has had his run-ins with two of the modern-day leagues, the great Shane Warne and Pakistanโs googly-artist Mushtaq Ahmed.
In 2016, Ahmed was bowling at the nets of Nottinghamshire when Mushtaq, who was strolling by, stopped to watch the kid bowl. Naeem, the father, has spoken about it in the past how Mushtaq came back to watch his son, and advised him to carry on bowling and ignore any coaches.
Later on, he met Shane Warne, his idol. โI was watching Shane Warne bowling on YouTube. He had a flipper and used to set batters up differently,โ he told The Cricketer. โI loved it and started bowling legspin.
โI thought I was just going to sit down with him and have a chat – that was already amazing – but when he said ‘come on, let’s go have a bowl’, I couldn’t feel my toes!โ
Not just a inspiration and a role model to me but a inspiration for millions across the globe. Your words of wisdom and inspiration will forever stick by me @ShaneWarne #LivingLegend | #GoneToSoon | #RIP pic.twitter.com/UZElXQIfc3
— Rehan Ahmed (@RehanAhmed__16) March 5, 2022
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Last month, at the demise of Warne, Ahmed tweeted, โNot just a inspiration and a role model to me but a inspiration for millions across the globe. Your words of wisdom and inspiration will forever stick by me.โ
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