‘I just want to get runs and a load of wickets consistently in the same games’: England all-rounder Rehan Ahmed on comparisons with Steve Smith

With five centuries and 23 wickets in the English County Championships Division Two, Lancashire and England Test all-rounder 20-year-old Rehan Ahmed had broken a number of records in First Class cricket this year. Last month, Ahmed had played a knock of 115 runs and had taken 13 wickets against Derbyshire in an English County Championships match and had become the first English player to have taken 13 wickets and a century in a first class game since Ian Botham achieved the feat in the Jubilee Test in 1980. With comparisons with Australian batsman Steve Smith, who too started as a spinner first and later developed into one of the leading run-scorers in Test cricket for Australia, already doing the rounds, Ahmed believes he cannot stop bowling ever.

“I love bowling, too! Whenever I’ve played for England, it’s been as a bowler. I still do think that’s my first skill and I am trying to learn as much as I possibly can. Leg-spin is an art that you can never perfect. It’s about working as hard as possible. I want to bowl as much as I possibly can. I enjoy it. I love being part of the game as much as I can. So I just want to get runs and a load of wickets consistently in the same games,” Ahmed told The Telegraph when asked about comparisons with Steve Smith.

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