Gujarat Titans’ Noor Ahmad bowls throughout the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match between Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans in Jaipur on May 5, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP
One Rashid Khan might be a handful for a batting line-up. Imagine having to face a left-handed Rashid from the different finish.
Rajasthan Royals discovered that wasn’t a very nice expertise at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Friday night time. Noor Ahmad, the 18-year-old left-arm wrist-spinner from Afghanistan, is turning out to be certainly one of the rising stars of the IPL this season.
He took two wickets for Gujarat Titans in its crushing victory in opposition to Royals, and proved an ideal foil for his extra well-known fellow-countryman. From six matches thus far, he has taken 10 wickets.
Noor’s first recreation was in opposition to Royals at Ahmedabad, coming in as an Impact Player. His maiden wicket was a giant one – Sanju Samson, whom he had mistiming a shot to long-off after being hit for a 4 and a six.
Noor has since discovered a daily place in the Titans eleven, and has justified the administration’s religion in him. Look at the approach he foxed Devdutt Padikkal and knocked down his off-stump in the final match; it wasn’t dissimilar from Rashid’s dismissal of R. Ashwin just a few overs earlier than.
Noor have to be happy with the similarity: all he needed was to bowl identical to his hero. But Rashid and Titans’ assistant coach Aashish Kapoor advised him to develop a mode of his personal.
Nobody could be happier with Noor’s success than Aashish. The former India off-spinner was the one who introduced him to the Titans camp.
“I told (Titans coach) Ashish Nehra , you pick whoever you want, but let me pick one guy, that’s Noor,” Aashish stated. “For me, he was a left-handed Rashid Khan. If you want Rashid at whatever amount and you’re getting another one who is a left-hander… they can be a deadly combination.”
Aashish had been monitoring Noor’s progress from his days in junior cricket. “He played against the strong India Under-19 team and was never scared,” he stated. “We lost some matches or won narrowly because of him.”
Noor has already performed in franchise leagues elsewhere earlier than realising his IPL dream. “And he could be a better batter than Rashid,” the proud coach warned.
