Former India opener Gautam Gambhir lauded promising young bowler Avesh Khan and advised him not to limit himself to the IPL.
Avesh, who played for the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2022 under Gambhir's mentorship, was the only Indian bowler with an economy rate under 9 in the opening T20I against South Africa in New Delhi on Thursday.
Avesh, according to Gambhir, has a large heart and is willing to take on the burden of bowling critical overs.
“This bowler has a lot of talent, he has pace, a big heart to bowl the difficult overs. But I will want to see him improve further in every match. He is a young bowler, only the IPL should not be his goal, the T20 World Cup is coming ahead," he added.
In the first match of the series, Avesh was chosen ahead of young Umran Malik and Arshdeep Singh in the playing XI. The young bowler has only appeared in three matches for the national team till now but is a strong contender for a spot in the T20 World Cup 2022 squad later this year.
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If he continues to work hard, Gambhir believes the 25-year-old can represent India in all three formats.
“He has the attitude that a fast bowler should have and the most important thing is that he is still young and wants to learn. If he continues to work hard, he can become an excellent bowler, not only in T20s but in all three formats," added Gambhir.
Gambhir further added that the ability to bowl at a high pace helped the bowler execute his plans in all the phases of the game.
“That ability comes with pace. If you have the pace, then you feel confident in all three phases. We have seen a lot of bowlers who do not have the pace that Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, and Jasprit Bumrah have, then you have to give them the extra protection."
Gambhir worked in a close association with Avesh at LSG where he had a tough competitor within the squad, Mohsin Khan.
“It is a good thing if one player pushes the other, then you can bring out a better performance from the other player, which you want. Your squad is a good one when every player is pushed, the other player comes and pushes you and Mohsin Khan did that exceptionally well," said Gambhir.
(News18 inputs)
