Leg and off: Should Khaleel Ahmed be in India's plans for Border Gavaskar Trophy?

Never short of extreme predictions (which are correct more often than not) and outrageous ideas, Australia legend Ricky Ponting said that Khaleel Ahmed should be a part of the Australia tour later this year.

Four months before their highly anticipated tour of Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Ponting told ICC review:

"Someone like Khaleel Ahmed I think could find himself on the Test tour. I know he's just been over in Zimbabwe recently and played that (T20I) series over there, but a left-armer would be ideal for them to have in their touring squad."

For the average Indian men's cricket fan, it's a crazy prediction, though. Forget playing any Tests, Khaleel hasn't seemed close to the Indian red-ball team in the last few years, with his best appearances only limited to the IPL for Delhi Capitals -- which was coached by Ponting till the 2024 season.

Surely Ponting wouldn't bet his reputation and drop his name just like that only because they have had an IPL association? As a coach he'd have watched countless fast-bowlers in the tournament - Mayank Yadav, T Natarajan, Yash Dayal and Harshit Rana, among others -- so why Khaleel?

Below, in this latest edition of Leg and Off, we discuss the pros and cons of the move and if it'd make sense for India:

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Why it doesn't make sense to take Khaleel Ahmed to Australia

First, let's start by playing the devil's advocate. Khaleel Ahmed doesn't have any Test experience, and Australia is one of the worst places to go as an inexperienced fast-bowler who hasn't played in front of huge crowds ready to get you all throughout the 90 overs and against batters who won't miss half-a-chance to take you on.

Yes, India defended the trophy in 2021-22 with a spirited inexperienced squad, but Australia won't let them do it again. The team, under an even more experienced bowling attack and a captain hell bent on winning everything everywhere around the world.

Then, there are some inherent problems in Khaleel's bowling. His angle and action is such that right-handers get a lot of width when he bowls over the wicket, and that's a massive NO for bowling in Australia.

Moreover, India can't afford too many specialist bowlers either. Already with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, there are too many bowlers who can't bat.

India can't get to Australia's level of batting depth in the next four months, but they at least need someone who can hold one end. There are a ton of options available in the ranks who have a lot more experience than Khaleel and could be trusted to do the job.

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Why it makes sense to have Khaleel Ahmed in the squad

Khaleel Ahmed, despite his faults, is a smart and hard-working bowler. When he first broke into the Indian team in 2018-19, he was quite inconsistent and relied heavily on bowling hard into the pitch.

Recently, he has become a brilliant swing bowler, getting more swing than most, even in the batting-friendly IPL 2024, and doing so with good results too. He has done that through the grind of domestic cricket, where by bowling 12-15 overs daily, he has found more consistency and confidence and burnished his strengths.

There's not much difference in left-arm fast-bowlers and right-arm ones' record in Australia. However, given that it's a five-Test series, India would not only want quality back-ups but bowlers who provide something different to Bumrah, Siraj and Shami if Australia come up with good plans for the trio.

Khaleel Ahmed's swing could be quite useful in some venues in that regard. That, along with a touch extra pace, gives him slight edge over Arshdeep Singh, who is brilliant with the ball in white-ball cricket but might find it tough to rush batters in Australia.