Khaleel Ahmed opened up on guidance from Rohit Sharma during New Zealand series | Photo Credit: AP

The current Indian team has a good mix of young blood and experience in its ranks. With the likes of senior players like MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to constantly guide them in pressure situations, the youngsters feel at home in the Indian dressing room. Like all other youngsters, pacer Khaleel Ahmed had a great learning experience spending time with a formidable group of seniors during India's tour of New Zealand and opened up on the guidance he received from stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma which helped him improve his game massively.

Khaleel, who made his ODI debut for India during the Asia Cup last year, has worked hard on his bowling to become a mainstay in the Indian bowling line-up as the sole left-hand pacer. He didn't have the perfect start to the proceedings in New Zealand and went wicketless in the 4th ODI against the hosts as India succumbed to an 8-wicket defeat.

In the T20I series, Khaleel was once again found out by the Kiwi batsmen in the first T20I as he managed to pick up just one wicket conceding 48 runs in his quota of four overs. There were questions raised over his spot in the playing XI, but with the backing of skipper Rohit, Khaleel bounced back strongly in the second T20I in Auckland and finished with figures of 27/2 in his four overs as India won the game by 7 wickets.

Khaleel revealed how Rohit gave him a pep talk and guided him on how to set up batsmen in T20Is after his poor show in the first T20I, and advised him to bowl freely without being too cautious in his approach.

“Rohit bhai spoke to me after the first match. He discussed where I was going wrong and explained to me the perspective of a batsman when he comes to the crease in a T20 game. He spoke on how I should prepare to take on the batsmen who are looking to attack from the word go. He spoke about the mindset of different batsmen and also how I should set specific fields for each opposition batsman. He really guided me a lot and most importantly asked me to bowl bindaas (carefree) and back my strength," Khaleel told Hindustan Times.

Khaleel further opened up on the incident and said that the episode helped him a lot as he returned with good figures in the second T20I. The left-hander cleaned up Mitchell Santner and Tim Southee in the must-win 2nd T2OI and contributed well in bowling out the hosts for 158. India went on to win the game to pull the series level at 1-1 before eventually suffering a close 4-run defeat to lose the series 2-1.

“Rohit bhai has played so many matches and when someone like him guides you, you know how to go about the job. After all, he is one of the most destructive batsmen in the shorter formats of the game. Him coming forward and sharing that experience helped a lot as I realised that I should not take any undue pressure just because the batsmen are looking to attack every ball,” he added.