Rehan Ahmed 'ready' to control the controllables as spin test looms

Rehan Ahmed, England's young wrist spinner, who is preparing to play Rohit Sharma's team in a five-match Test series that begins on January 25 in Hyderabad, acknowledged that it will be difficult to perform well in Indian conditions against some of the efficient batters of spin. Rehan is one of the four specialist spinners picked for England's Test squad alongside Jack Leach, Tom Hartley, and Shoaib Bashir. The 19-year-old has played only one Test against Pakistan where he took seven wickets in Karachi in 2022. 

Despite admitting the challenges, the 19-year-old stated that he would give it his all for the team. The teenager wanted to play more games for the national side as he believes there is still a lot of time for excelling in the Indian Premier League (IPL). This might be the reason for him to withdraw from the IPL 2024 mini-auction a day before the event in Dubai.

"I’ve accepted it’s going to be hard. I’ll try my best. That’s all I can control. I’m just looking forward to playing Test cricket again. The least I could do is make sure I’m fully ready for whatever I can be for England. There’s a lot of time for IPL and stuff if I get the chance again, and if I don’t get the chance to do it, I’m fine with that as well. I spoke to a couple of people - if you want a long career, you don’t want to burn out too soon. Just being ready for England is my main priority," Rehan told The Telegraph.

Rehan Ahmed went on to emphasise that he is focused on developing a flipper that looks like Shane Warne's and that he wants to find out how the late Aussie legend used to set batters to hit it.

"I don’t like focusing on new things while in competition - I keep it as simple as I can. But I’m sure when I have two or three weeks off I can put my head down and work on something special. I think the flipper’s a nice ball to have, especially in T20 cricket - even Test cricket, the way it’s going right now. Flipper’s a nice ball to have, seeing Warney the way he used to bowl it as well, the way he used to set batsmen up," the 19-year-old added.