<p>Manchester: It’s November 2016 and a young Haseeb Hameed is the talk of the town ahead of the opening match of the five-match series against India. The 19-year-old, born to parents of Indian origin in Bolton, has been making waves for Lancashire in County cricket. </p>.<p>He had just scored 1,198 runs in the English domestic season, breaking the great Michael Atherton’s record as the youngest Lancashire player to reach that landmark. Such has been his talent and temperament since his age-group days, some of his colleagues dubbed him ‘Baby Boycott’ even before he could get an England cap. Boycott’s impregnable defence is still spoken about highly in England and barely anyone gets mentioned in the same breath, even casually. Walking in with such a massive billing is never easy for anyone, more so for a teenager. </p>.How India are losing the plot .<p>Haseeb though produced a statement performance in his debut Test at Rajkot, a city which is about 360 km from Bharuch where his father was born. After scoring 31 in the first innings, he grafted a 177-ball 82 and his 180-run stand for the opening wicket with Alastair Cook (130) helped England almost pull off a win. That display of dour defence against the likes of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja on a final day track vindicated all the hype about him as England’s next big thing. That was the start which he and others envisioned. But then came the slide that hardly anyone foresaw.</p>.<p>In the third match of the series at Mohali, he broke his little finger on his left hand, and although he batted through extreme pain to score an unbeaten 59 coming at No. 8 to earn plaudits, that injury was the start of a massive slide. His form for Lancashire dipped majorly, which saw the County release him at the end of the 2019 season. He moved to Nottinghamshire, where he struggled at the start before finding his range in his sophomore season, where he scored 944 runs that helped him make an international return after almost five years in the home series against India in 2021. He managed just 140 runs in three Tests before enduring a horror Ashes Down Under later that year that still haunts him. After scoring 25 and 27 in the opening Test, Haseeb posted 6, 0, 0, 7, 6, 9 that promptly saw him being banished.</p>.<p>“It's been about nine years since I made my debut. I guess just going through the ups and downs of a young player that was in the spotlight at quite a young age, I’d say,” Haseeb, now 28 years old and sporting a thick beard, told DH. “But after that, I went through a few challenges. I ended up having three surgeries in the space of about nine months from that tour (Australia). So naturally, there was a little bit of time lost to injury and then recovering from that, I think as a young player I had never experienced that as well.”</p>.<p>When asked how debilitating the Ashes was, Haseeb admitted he made plenty of mistakes but was also a victim of England’s defensive strategy. “I think I'm quite clear on the Ashes series. I think the biggest mistake both I made individually and as a team was we started to play for survival. I don't think you can do that against that (Australian) team. Certainly that bowling attack in those conditions. That Brisbane Test match I felt like I was in a really good space. I had a couple of decent starts. Obviously, I wasn't quite able to go on and make big scores.”</p>.<p>Life is all about learning from mistakes, and Haseeb has done over the last couple of seasons. He has changed his style from being a defensive batter to an aggressive one — in tune with the current England template — and has led Nottinghamshire exceptionally, scoring 1091 last season and counting on 848 this year at a superb average of 70.66. When asked if he sees a return to the England side, Haseeb hopes his runs do all the talking again. </p>.<p>“I got asked the other day whether I had made changes as a result of the current leadership. I can honestly say I made changes before Stokesy (Ben Stokes) took over as captain and (Brendon) McCullum came in as coach. After that Australia tour, like I said, one of the learnings for me was finding a way to put pressure on the best bowlers in the world. Because they don't miss and you have to try and make them miss. I certainly started making changes to my game from then. </p>.<p>“One thing that looks really strong about the current leadership is that they back players. In terms of the last conversation I had with Rob Key (ECB’s Director of Cricket), his whole thinking was that they're going to give the players that they've selected a long run at it. But if and when they hopefully select me in the future, they'll give me equally as long a run. So yeah, that was my last conversation.”</p>.<p>If Haseeb keeps scoring a truckload of runs domestically season after season, his chance for redemption should come at some stage.</p>
<p>Manchester: It’s November 2016 and a young Haseeb Hameed is the talk of the town ahead of the opening match of the five-match series against India. The 19-year-old, born to parents of Indian origin in Bolton, has been making waves for Lancashire in County cricket. </p>.<p>He had just scored 1,198 runs in the English domestic season, breaking the great Michael Atherton’s record as the youngest Lancashire player to reach that landmark. Such has been his talent and temperament since his age-group days, some of his colleagues dubbed him ‘Baby Boycott’ even before he could get an England cap. Boycott’s impregnable defence is still spoken about highly in England and barely anyone gets mentioned in the same breath, even casually. Walking in with such a massive billing is never easy for anyone, more so for a teenager. </p>.How India are losing the plot .<p>Haseeb though produced a statement performance in his debut Test at Rajkot, a city which is about 360 km from Bharuch where his father was born. After scoring 31 in the first innings, he grafted a 177-ball 82 and his 180-run stand for the opening wicket with Alastair Cook (130) helped England almost pull off a win. That display of dour defence against the likes of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja on a final day track vindicated all the hype about him as England’s next big thing. That was the start which he and others envisioned. But then came the slide that hardly anyone foresaw.</p>.<p>In the third match of the series at Mohali, he broke his little finger on his left hand, and although he batted through extreme pain to score an unbeaten 59 coming at No. 8 to earn plaudits, that injury was the start of a massive slide. His form for Lancashire dipped majorly, which saw the County release him at the end of the 2019 season. He moved to Nottinghamshire, where he struggled at the start before finding his range in his sophomore season, where he scored 944 runs that helped him make an international return after almost five years in the home series against India in 2021. He managed just 140 runs in three Tests before enduring a horror Ashes Down Under later that year that still haunts him. After scoring 25 and 27 in the opening Test, Haseeb posted 6, 0, 0, 7, 6, 9 that promptly saw him being banished.</p>.<p>“It's been about nine years since I made my debut. I guess just going through the ups and downs of a young player that was in the spotlight at quite a young age, I’d say,” Haseeb, now 28 years old and sporting a thick beard, told DH. “But after that, I went through a few challenges. I ended up having three surgeries in the space of about nine months from that tour (Australia). So naturally, there was a little bit of time lost to injury and then recovering from that, I think as a young player I had never experienced that as well.”</p>.<p>When asked how debilitating the Ashes was, Haseeb admitted he made plenty of mistakes but was also a victim of England’s defensive strategy. “I think I'm quite clear on the Ashes series. I think the biggest mistake both I made individually and as a team was we started to play for survival. I don't think you can do that against that (Australian) team. Certainly that bowling attack in those conditions. That Brisbane Test match I felt like I was in a really good space. I had a couple of decent starts. Obviously, I wasn't quite able to go on and make big scores.”</p>.<p>Life is all about learning from mistakes, and Haseeb has done over the last couple of seasons. He has changed his style from being a defensive batter to an aggressive one — in tune with the current England template — and has led Nottinghamshire exceptionally, scoring 1091 last season and counting on 848 this year at a superb average of 70.66. When asked if he sees a return to the England side, Haseeb hopes his runs do all the talking again. </p>.<p>“I got asked the other day whether I had made changes as a result of the current leadership. I can honestly say I made changes before Stokesy (Ben Stokes) took over as captain and (Brendon) McCullum came in as coach. After that Australia tour, like I said, one of the learnings for me was finding a way to put pressure on the best bowlers in the world. Because they don't miss and you have to try and make them miss. I certainly started making changes to my game from then. </p>.<p>“One thing that looks really strong about the current leadership is that they back players. In terms of the last conversation I had with Rob Key (ECB’s Director of Cricket), his whole thinking was that they're going to give the players that they've selected a long run at it. But if and when they hopefully select me in the future, they'll give me equally as long a run. So yeah, that was my last conversation.”</p>.<p>If Haseeb keeps scoring a truckload of runs domestically season after season, his chance for redemption should come at some stage.</p>