"Rishabh Pant is quite an intelligent captain, guides me well from behind the stumps" - Avesh Khan

Avesh Khan has played with Rishabh Pant right from their Under-19 days and then joined forces again for Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The pacer's breakthrough season in the tournament came in 2021, under Pant's captaincy.

The Madhya Pradesh pacer heaped praise on the young wicketkeeper-batter's captaincy while speaking to Boria Majumdar on 'Backstage with Boria'.

"Rishabh Pant is quite an intelligent captain. He is a wicketkeeper, so he can see very well what the batter is going to do. I have always had good communication with him, because he is a good friend too from the Under-19 days, when we played together," he said.

Speaking about their equation, Avesh said:

"Even when we’d be in the room together, I’d tell him that whatever you feel is right, whatever field you want to set or whatever delivery you want me to bowl, you tell me and I’ll do that. So the captain always trusted me that 'he will do what I say'. I would also practice accordingly."

He credited Pant for helping him during matches with advice on what to bowl to a batter.

"He’s also guided me from behind the stumps many times as to whether to bowl away from the batter or to bowl a bouncer or a wide yorker. It feels good having that kind of communication, and when I executed those plans even he felt good as a captain that I was following what he had to say," the pacer said.

"Felt good because parents' dream had come true" - Avesh Khan on maiden India call-up

After a stunning IPL 2021, Avesh Khan was handed his maiden India call-up for the home T20 International (T20I) series against New Zealand.

He revealed that the first person he went to when he got the news was Madhya Pradesh teammate Venkatesh Iyer, who got his maiden national team call-up as well.

Recalling the day, he said:

"I had a lot of curiosity in my mind that I had a good IPL season, so I was expecting to get an India call-up for the series against New Zealand. I kept asking everyone when the team would be declared. I was in Delhi at the time for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Our last match had just gotten over. Mom and dad also had hopes. And when finally my name came, I was very happy."

Avesh went on to say:

"My friend Venkatesh Iyer, we are very close and always shared a room, he also got selected so I first ran to him and we hugged and celebrated and then I called my dad."

He said that his mother was in tears of joy after the news and it made him happy to have made his parents proud.

He said that his father was very happy after receiving the first call from him, but after that both his parents' phones were busy for a while.

"He was very happy. But after that his and Mom’s phones were continuously busy. After a while I video called at home and Mom cried a little. It felt good, because their dreams had come true. Of course they were tears of joy. Felt good to think that I had achieved something," he said.

While he did not get to play a match during that series, Avesh Khan is highly likely to get his first India cap in either the ODIs or the T20Is against West Indies.