It is a Tuesday afternoon at the Wankhede Stadium, and the Vijay Hazare Trophy fixture between Odisha and Madhya Pradesh has just finished, with the latter clinching a five-wicket win.
As the players and support staff of both the teams walk into the ground for post-match pleasantries, two young fast bowlers from Madhya Pradesh - Avesh Khan and Kuldeep Sen - bump into national selector Sunil Joshi. As the other players greet each other and exchange smiles, Joshi gets into a discussion with both Kuldeep and Avesh in one corner of the ground, and after a while, Madhya Pradesh coach Chandrakant Pandit, too, joins in.
Joshi and Pandit talk to the youngsters for about fifteen minutes, and both Avesh and Kuldeep are seen nodding their heads in agreement.
Soon after Joshi leaves, Avesh and Kuldeep rush to the other corner of the ground for some fitness drills, and as they sweat it out for a while, a few fans are seen chanting Avesh’s name from the Dilip Vengsarkar stand. The 25-year-old Avesh, who has already featured in five ODIs and 15 T20Is for India and is a regular in the Indian Premier League, waves at the fans and later obliges them with autographs and selfies.
But of course, before he does that, Avesh makes it a point to seek permission from coach Pandit. “ Haan, thik hai, jaao…” Pandit tells him with a smile.
After a while, as Avesh slowly walks back towards the pavilion, he says that the biggest aim is to keep himself fit. After breaking into India’s limited overs side, he was ruled out of the Asia Cup due to an illness and eventually missed out on a spot in India’s T20 World Cup squad.
“The main aim is to keep yourself fit. If you are fit and fine, then only you can play cricket for long,” Avesh tells Sportstar.
So far in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Avesh has claimed four wickets - three against Jammu and Kashmir in the opener and another against Odisha. “I want to contribute to my team’s success, and I am trying to play to my strength, and that’s the only focus for now.”
As he talks about the road ahead, Avesh admits that missing out on the T20 World Cup was a ‘sad feeling’, but he does not want to dwell on the past. “You are bound to feel sad when you miss a tournament like the World Cup, for which you have been preparing for a year. But unfortunately, I had a fever after the Asia Cup match against Hong Kong and was out of two games after that. So, when I missed out on a World Cup spot, I did feel sad, but then, I thought over it and realised that nothing can be bigger than playing for India and kept motivating myself,” Avesh says.
“I will try my best to represent my country again and help the team win matches with my bowling performance. Ups and downs are part of life,” he adds.
After the Asia Cup, Avesh returned to the Indian team for the three-match ODI series against South Africa last month and played two games with a fever. “But it was a great feeling to overcome the challenges and play for your country, despite the fever. I gave my 100 per cent.”
Over the last few months, India’s death bowling has drawn flak and being a fast bowler, Avesh understands the importance of delivering at the end. “I keep talking to sir (Pandit) and our captain about the clarity of thought. That’s very important in such situations because you need to be very clear in your mind in terms of the delivery, the field setting, and there has to be proper planning,” he says.
“If you have clarity of thought then you don’t fail to execute the plans. If you get into the field with two or three plans and you yourself are not sure which one to follow, then there is a chance of messing it up. So, whenever I go out there to bowl in those overs, I constantly think of a particular delivery - whether it is a yorker or a hard-length one - and just focus on sticking to the plan.”
In the Indian team too, the team management has regular meetings with the bowlers where they discuss the plans. “There is clarity there as well. Before every game, we have meetings with bowlers where we discuss how to bowl to a particular batter in the slog overs. We also factor in the ground dimension and the conditions while planning for the death overs,” Avesh says.
With a packed international calendar, Avesh is confident of getting another opportunity for the Indian team and wants to be prepared. “I want to focus on my consistency, and that’s a major factor going forward. Somedays, things will go your way, while there will be days when things may not go your way, but one cannot lose hope. So, I want to work harder and have clarity of thought.”
Over the last few months, several young fast bowlers like Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh, and Mohsin Khan have made their presence felt, and Avesh enjoys healthy competition with his contemporaries. “There is competition for sure, but you cannot always think of it. The idea is to improve my game. I want to improve on all three formats because as a young bowler, you want to learn as much as possible from all the formats. They are different from each other, so the target is to improve, day by day…”
While Avesh wants to stay in the present, he also is looking forward to playing in the Ranji Trophy this season. After almost two years, a full-fledged Ranji Trophy will be held this time in the home and away format. “I enjoy playing red-ball cricket, and I am looking forward to featuring in the Ranji Trophy. I love bowling longer spells, and eventually, the target is to represent my country in red-ball cricket as well…” Avesh says.
From being yet another promising talent, Avesh has slowly made his presence felt in the IPL and international cricket. Overcoming disappointments, the young gun wants to bounce back and dreams of playing Test cricket for India someday.
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