India's rising speedster Khaleel Ahmed turns a year older on Thursday. Born on November 5, 1997, the left-arm pacer celebrates his 22nd birthday. Hailing from Rajasthan, Khaleel has the ability to make the new-ball talk and his buckets of variations in the death make him a complete package. The fast-bowler has already represented India at the highest level and seems like a great prospect for the future. In his early days, Khaleel has bowled some good spells and is expected to get better with time. ICC World T20 2020: India Keen to Enhance the Bowling Bench Strength Ahead of the Mega Tournament.

The left-arm pacer idolises Zaheer Khan and aims to replicate his heroics in International cricket. Khaleel certainly has the attributes to torment any batting line-up but has a long way to go. So far, he has represented India in 11 ODIs in which he took 15 wickets. Along with that, the youngster also has 13 wickets from 14 T20Is. The pacer has also showcased his ability in the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he has 19 wickets from just 10 games. Talking about Khaleel's blitz with the ball, let's look at some terrific spells bowled by the Indian pacer.

3/48 Against Hong Kong in Dubai

The pacer made his ODI debut against Hong Kong in 2018 Asia Cup and made a mark straight away. Defending a total of 284, Hong Kong were 174/0 and a great upset was on the cards. Pacers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur were facing the hammering. However, Khaleel rose to the occasion and scalped three crucial wickets. The opposition's batting line-up collapsed due to the pacer's spectacular show and India bagged the match by 26 runs.

3/13 Against West Indies in Mumbai

Khaleel's other brilliant performance came in the fourth ODI of West Indies' 2018 Tour of India. On a pitch where Indian batsmen scored runs for fun and posted 377 runs in the first innings, the pacer ran through the Caribbean batting line-up and dismantled their top order. As a result, the visitors got bundled out for 153 runs and subsequently lost the match by 224 runs.

3/33 Against Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad

The fast bowler enjoyed a great run in IPL 2019 where he played for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and scalped 19 wickets in nine games. One of his best spells came against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) where he put up a terrific display of fast-bowling and dismissed the likes of Chris Lynn and Shubhman Gill. Khaleel took three wickets in total which helped SRH side to restrict the Knights for 159 runs in first innings and they later clinched the match by nine wickets.

3/40 Against Kings XI Punjab in Hyderabad

The speedster looked at his premium best against the Punjab side in 2019. SRH mustered 212 runs while batting first and the track looked ideal to bat on. However, Khaleel had some other ideas as he took wickets of KL Rahul, Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran which restricted the KXIP side for just 167 runs and the Sunrisers registered a victory by 45 runs.

Khaleel might not be included in India's squad for the upcoming series against West Indies but is certainly around the national team and will eye to make a comeback again. With the ICC T20 World Cup being less than a year away, the youngster has a great chance to put up a scintillating show in IPL 2020 and secure a berth in India's squad for the showpiece tournament.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 05, 2019 08:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).