18-year-old Rehan Ahmed became part of the news headlines on Wednesday, when he received his maiden call-up to the England men’s Test side set to face Pakistan in a three-match Test series, starting December 1.
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Ahmed had various heads turning towards him earlier this year, when he emerged as England’s second-highest wicket-taker at the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2022 in New Zealand.
His 12 wickets across 4 innings, at an average of 12.58, was instrumental in England’s journey to the grand finale where they lost to India by 4 wickets.
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Now standing on the cusp of scripting history, Ahmed will become the youngest-ever England men’s cricketer to make his Test debut, provided he does feature in the playing XI in one of the three Tests against Pakistan.
Shane Warne spotted a future star in 13-year-old Rehan Ahmed
One of the greatest leg-spinner to have graced the sport, late Shane Warne, had foreseen the potential in Rehan Ahmed four years ago, when the latter had impressed him with his leg-spin bowling at Lord’s in September 2017.
Acknowledging the skill-level of the then 13-year-old Rehan Ahmed, Warne had predicted the former’s First-Class debut at the age of 15, and then soon perhaps provide him the opportunity to praise his bowling from the commentary box.
“That’s awesome, man. Really, really good. I’m going to keep a close eye on you. I think we’ll be commentating on you very soon. I think you could be playing first-class cricket by the age of 15,” remarked Warne as seen in the video below which has now become viral across social media platforms.
This old video of Shane Warne telling a 13-year-old Rehan Ahmed that he’ll be playing first-class cricket by 15 is really quite heartwarming.pic.twitter.com/K4uwxrqJ3r
— Yas Rana (@Yas_Wisden) November 24, 2022
Rehan Ahmed, who turned 18 in August, in fact made his First-Class debut for Leicestershire in May this year at the age of 17.
Mere three FC matches old, the leg-spin bowling allrounder has already picked up a five-wicket haul, and has also smashed a century (122 versus Derbyshire), to attract the ECB selectors’ attention in such a short span of time.
