Lucknow Super Giants mentor Gautam Gambhir lauded Avesh Khan for his rise in recent years, and wishes to see more of the same in near future.
Avesh Khan has been a part of India’s growing fast-bowling strength in recent years, with his consistency in the Indian Premier League and in limited chances in India’s T20I setup. The right-arm quick bagged 24 wickets at 18.75 in Delhi Capitals‘ run to the playoffs in IPL 2021, which helped him earn a maiden India cap not long after.
In the mega auctions ahead of the IPL 2022 edition, he was roped in for a whopping INR 10 crores by LSG – the highest bid for any uncapped player in the competition’s history. The player responded with 18 wickets at 23.11 as the KL Rahul-led side progressed through to the playoffs in their first year of participation.
In the first of five home T20Is against South Africa in Delhi on June 9, he returned 0/35 from his four overs in a high-scoring game, making a strong comeback after he’d been taken for 15 in his first over.
Gautam Gambhir, a commentator for the ongoing series, couldn’t be more impressed.
“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 said during a conversation with Star Sports.
Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik are the other two young speedsters who made the cut in India’s squad for the series. The impressive left-arm quick Mohsin Khan was an unlucky absentee, having bagged 14 wickets at 14.07 while maintaining an excellent economy of 5.67 in just his maiden Premier League season.
Gambhir, who observed both Avesh and Mohsin closely, believed that stiff competition helps players to elevate their game.
“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,”
he added.
The second India-South Africa T20I will be played in Cuttack on June 12.
