When 21-year-old Rehan Ahmed came to bat against New Zealand on Friday, England was in place of bother in the 160 run chase. In their last encounter of the Super 8s stage, England was struggling at 117/6 and needed 43 runs of 19 balls with Will Jacks on the other side.
However, the 21-year-old took matters in his own hand scoring 19 runs from the 43 required in just seven balls with one four and two sixes.
After hitting Glenn Phillips for a six on his second ball, Ahmed effectively sealed the match on the last ball of the penultimate over with another six off Mitchell Santner.
Coach Brendon McCullum had a clear message for the youngster and it was to go all-out from the first delivery. “Baz actually sent one of the walkie talkie messages downstairs, saying ‘tell Reh to bat like Sehwag’,” Ahmed told BBC Sport- a reference to India’s aggressive former opener Virender Sehwag.
Starting in place of Jamie Overton in the XI, Ahmed proved to be a crucial addition to the team as he took two wickets in his three overs and played a cameo in the chase aiding Will Jacks.
Jacks and Ahmed added 44 runs in just 16 balls for the seventh wicket to push England to third consecutive victory of the Super 8s and an assured berth in the semi-finals.
England looked down and out of the game after the part-time spin duo of Phillips and Rachin Ravindra choked them with slower deliveries. Rachin took three wickets at an economy of 4.8
However, the game changed when Santner trusted Phillips more than his main pacers and handed him the 18th over where he was clobbered to 22 runs by Jacks and Ahmed effectively changing the momentum of the game.
Will Jacks, one of the best performers of the tournament, earned his fourth man of the match award with another all-round performance as the Three Lions matches to another T20 World Cup knockout stage.
