England leg-spinner relishes the spotlight as he holds his own in the Test side
England checked out of the Novotel Hotel in Visakhapatnam early on Wednesday as they jetted off to Abu Dhabi for a brief stopover.
The golf clubs will be waiting for them there, while the cricket kit will be on its way to meet them in Rajkot on Monday next week. For now, thoughts of battling Jasprit Bumrah have been parked in favour of a new conundrum: balancing a few rounds with time with family members who have travelled to the UAE. That is not a problem for Rehan Ahmed.
According to Rehan, when asked about the team's favourite pastime on a golf field, it’s a shocking sport. Even the managing director, Rob Key, a golf tragic, has not been able to get him to play.
Most 19-year-olds enjoy telling older generations that their idea of fun is no fun. But it says something about Rehan's comfort with who and where he is that he is not tempted to hack around just to fit in. Plus, he'd rather be catching up on the Turkish TV series Ertugrul.
With 16 England caps in all formats and a lucrative two-year central contract with the ECB, the last 13 months have been a whirlwind. It started with a five-wicket haul on Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi, and now he's holding his own as the wildest selection in a wildcard squad away to India.
With eight wickets to his name, Rehan is England's second highest wicket-taker in the series so far. Six of those came in the second Test in Visakhapatnam. He was part of a spin trio alongside Tom Hartley and debutant Shoaib Bashir. Rehan proved to be both the youngest and the most experienced to appear.
He was also parachuted in at No. 3 on the penultimate night of the Test. His aim was to give the fourth-innings chase a shock. It didn't work. Rehan's cameo of 23 off 31 wasn't quite enough of a dent in the colossal target of 399. It also meant he failed to deliver on a promise to his favourite player, Kevin Pietersen, who was the commentator for the first two matches."
The intention was good, especially after Stuart Broad had taken over the role in England's home summer, and as a reprisal for Rehan's role as the original 'Nighthawk' the previous winter. It was also Rehan's idea to collar Ben Stokes as they walked off the field at the end of India's second innings.He'd like to be promoted on a more permanent basis - "top seven, top six would be nice" - but admits he's lacking runs at the moment. His most notable first-class scores are a century for Leicestershire against Derbyshire at the end of the 2022 summer, and 85 and 90 against Yorkshire and Glamorgan last season. As his career takes shape, those who have been following Rehan's progress at the ECB wonder if he will become more of a batsman.