The 23-year-old has played three Tests, all against India during the 2016-17 season. It was during that series that Haseeb Hameed impressed one and all with his batting technique and grit, so much so that cricket pundits nicknamed him ‘Baby Boycott’ in honour of legendary English opener Geoffrey Boycott.
Haseeb Hameed stamped his authority on the international arena almost immediately, and registered scores of 31 and 82 on his Test debut in Rajkot. The icing on the cake was his unbeaten 59 off 156 balls while batting at No. 8 with a broken finger in Mohali. It was this valiant knock that prompted Virat Kohli to take notice of the then 19-year-old.
England were whitewashed 4-0 in the series, but they had seemingly unearthed a special talent in Haseeb Hameed who aggregated 219 runs at an average of 43.80 in three Tests.
‘I have something deep down that won’t let me stop,’ says Haseeb Hameed
Unfortunately, Haseeb Hameed has failed to make the Test team ever since. Even more surprisingly, his runs in the domestic circuit dried up so much that he had to shift base from his native Lancashire to Nottinghamshire.
After his average struggled to reach even double figures in 2018, Haseeb Hameed fared better last season in which he scored three half-centuries in five Bob Willis Trophy matches.
The Bolton-born lad signed a new contract with Nottinghamshire on Thursday that will keep him at Trent Bridge until the end of the 2022 season. Having overcome his lean patch, Haseeb Hameed sounded confident of playing more cricket and adding to his three Test caps.
Hameed said that although he won’t ever consider throwing in the towel, he did doubt his abilities at the time.
Haseeb Hameed has scored 3,179 runs at an average of 31.16 in 68 first-class matches, including five hundreds and 18 half-centuries. In 19 List A games, he has accumulated 556 runs at an average of 34.75 with a highest score of 88.
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