The 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride for a lot of teams. We have seen upsets, eliminations, record breaking scores and what not. One such moment arrived during England’s Super 8 clash against New Zealand on Friday.
England’s Rehan Ahmed dismissed New Zealand’s star batsman Rachin Ravindra with his first ball of the tournament. Ahmed bowled a googly over the wicket and lured Rachin Ravindra into hitting a pull shot who misjudged the ball and ended up giving away a catch to Jacob Bethell at deep mid wicket.
The 21-year-old has written his name in the history books for dismissing an in-form batter on his very first ball at the T20 World Cup. England have already qualified for the final four and were looking to test all their options before heading into the no error zone. Rehan broke a crucial partnership that was brewing between Rachin Ravindra and Glenn Phillips.
Rehan’s performance is a living example of what quality youngsters bring to the table and how hungry they are to produce good and impactful performances. It also highlights the importance of backing young talents and giving them game time to improve their skills and test their match readiness.
It was indeed a dream debut for Rehan Ahmed who also contributed match winning runs for England with the bat. He scored a six off the first ball and took the game away from New Zealand. He scored 19 off seven balls and formed a crucial partnership with Will Jacks to win the game for England.
Fans and Ntizens are hailing Rehan Ahmed’s performance with some even calling him the X factor player for England. Some fans have also demanded Rehan’s selection over Jamie Overton in the matches going forward.
