Haseeb Hameed left a letter for his Indian coach before leaving

England opener Haseeb Hameed has been a revelation for the England team. Despite being forced to leave the tour midway, he left a deep imprint of his sound game on the followers of the game. The 19-year old has become a sensation. Such good has his batting been, that he is nicknamed as Baby Boycott in the English cricket circle. His style of play showed grit and determination.

He made his Test debut in the first Test against India at Rajkot. He scored a gritty 82 in the second innings of the match and was applauded by all. The third Test at Mohali saw him bat with a broken finger. He went against all odds and showed character. He eventually scored a fifty. England lost the match but Haseeb Hameed had won the hearts. However, he was ruled out of the series thereafter following an injury.

Interestingly, his connection with India is not new. His father is from the state of Gujarat. Also, back in 2011, Hameed had come to India to work on his game. He was trained by the Mumbai coach Vidyadhar Paradkar during that time. His coach Vidyadhar revealed that he had worked on the basics of Hameed’s game play. Talking about Hameed as a 14-year old kid, the coach mentioned that the only flaw of his game was that he did not play straight well.

“I gave him some cone drills: keep your bat straight and hit the cone, keep your foot on the line of the ball, bring your bat down in a line, and he did it a hundred times. He would put a ball on a cone and try to hit it in all directions of the ground. He played three club matches at that time and remained not out in all of them. Then I knew he would go a long way,” said his coach Vidyadhar Haseeb Hameed as a 14-year old.

Later, Hameed toured India again. This time it was in late 2015 when Hameed came in touch with his coach. The coach mentioned that Hameed had come as an improved player then. Also, he knew that Hameed would make his debut soon. “He was a much better batsman the second time he came. I was very sure at that time his Test debut would come soon. The way he would use his bat, the way he would play the ball from mid-off to midwicket with a straight bat,” the coach remarked.

Hameed went on to make his debut and in style. He had left a heartfelt letter to his coach before leaving India. Here is the letter that will absolutely make you respect the young learner.