England’s young opening batsman Haseeb Hameed has admitted Virat Kohli has been a big inspiration in turning around his career after signing a new deal with Nottinghamshire to stay at Trent Bridge until the end of the 2022 season as he hopes to regain his Test place at national side.
Bolton-born Hameed has on Thursday (December 3) signed a new contract with English county side Nottinghamshire – where he has found his form, scoring three half-centuries in five Bob Willis Trophy matches and he is now looking to add to his three Test caps.
The 22-year-old had left Lancashire last summer after he failed to reach double figures in 2018 – three just three years after impressing for England in India.
He has played all three Tests against India during the 2016-17 season and scored 31 and 82 on his Test debut in Rajkot. Well, the youngsters yet again impressed all with his unbeaten 59 off 156 balls at No. 8 with a broken finger in Mohali, including Kohli who labeled then 19-year-old as a “future star”.
Well, following the series Hameed ended up in Lancashire’s second XI from being nicknamed 'Baby Boycott' in honor of England opening great Geoffrey Boycott. However, he is now again looking at his future with excitement, saying Kohli’s words served as a huge confidence booster for him.
As per Press Association, Hameed said of an England recall, “Having got a taste of it very young and then those experiences that followed, it has been an absolute rollercoaster but that ambition is still there. I am 23, I will be 24 in a couple of months but I still see myself hopefully playing this game I love for another 12 to 13 years, if not longer.”
On Kohli’s words, the youngster said: “Obviously for someone like Virat to say that does give you a lot of confidence and he is a massive inspiration for me as it is. He is someone I look up to and what inspires me is he is very open about the downfalls that he has had in his career.”
Hameed continued, “He speaks a lot and very openly about his pre-fitness days and how his diet wasn’t as good as it should be, having late nights and being quite normal about it. I think he is a great inspiration for people to look at and see what you can achieve if you put your mind to it and have a bit of discipline. Yes, 100 percent he has been a massive inspiration and something that has helped.”
He signed off by saying, “I have something deep down that won’t let me stop. I didn’t think about walking away from the game, but of course, you have doubts and that is when you need something within you, deep down to stop you from giving in and to try one more time and to keep doing that. The mental resilience has been quite important to me.”
