Mumbai: Going into the two-Youth Test series against India, England’s Under-19 captain Hamza Shaikh was a tad worried about his lean run, which saw him score around 200 runs in 20 innings.However, a few training sessions in Birmingham with Naushad Khan, the father-cum-coach of Sarfaraz and Musheer Khan, who happened to be in England this summer, seem to have done wonders for the youngster’s confidence and form. Following those sessions with Naushad, while batting for the Warwickshire 2nd XI, Shaikh — whose family hails from Surat in Gujarat — scored three fifties in four matches. Then, in the first Youth Test against India at Beckenham, which ended in a draw, Hamza stood out with quality knocks of 84 and 112.
“This season, I was struggling for runs but didn’t feel out of form. I never felt that I was far from runs, but all I had managed to score was around 200 runs in 20 innings across all formats. Of course, that lean run can also be attributed to the typical early-season tough conditions in England. With green wickets around, batting can be challenging. Now that the conditions are sunnier and the wickets flatter, batting has also got easier,” Hamza Shaikh told TOI from Beckenham on Wednesday.
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Slightly worried by his son’s poor returns with the bat, Hamza’s father Iliyas asked Naushad — whom the Shaikhs had met for the first time last year in Bengaluru — to have a look at where his son could be slightly erring. Perhaps, the Shaikhs’ Indian connection helped them forge an instant friendship with Naushad and his sons.“When I was in England (both my sons, Sarfaraz and Musheer, were touring England with India A and the Mumbai Emerging team respectively), Hamza’s father Iliyas Shaikh asked me to have a look at Hamza’s batting and help him recover his form. I trained Hamza for a few sessions in Birmingham, saw him play live in a couple of matches, and took his videos,” said Naushad, now back in Mumbai.“Luckily, Naushad uncle was in Nottingham, which is near Birmingham, and thus we ended up having some good training sessions. It was nice — he spoke about the mental side of the game. The main focus was red-ball cricket. He had seen my videos from the previous couple of games and gave me his feedback. We went to my club and trained there. He watched me play against a few local bowlers. He pointed out a couple of things which could be better. We practiced on a wet surface against the swinging ball,” Hamza revealed.“We had a good chat on the mental side of the game. Obviously, the way he’s prepared Sarfaraz and Musheer has been excellent, and that’s the reason why they’ve scored so many runs in domestic cricket. It was nice to draw on the experience of Naushad uncle. I’m grateful to him. I definitely think the training sessions with him have helped me. We worked on a couple of technical and mental aspects which are really important. He told me about little things that are really helpful,” the 19-year-old said.“Naushad uncle told me to trust my mind and technique. He enjoyed watching my hundred against the India Under-19 team. He told me that it was nice that I got runs, but there’s always room for improvement. Representing and captaining the England Under-19 team is a big honour. It was nice to contribute as a captain,” Hamza said.Elaborating on what technical changes he suggested to Hamza, Naushad said, “His trigger movement was too big and too late, because of which he was being late on the ball. His back-lift was very high, and he was standing too upright in his stance. I only suggested minor corrections in his technique, but he seemed to be in better rhythm afterwards.”“I told him to play every ball according to its merit. I looked to change his mindset a bit. We spoke about his game plan in the middle and how he should look to build his innings. I must say that he’s a very good student — he learns very fast. After his training sessions with me, he was getting better with every match. Whenever I go to England, or he comes to India, we are looking forward to working together again. We are in touch on the phone. He keeps sending his videos, and I give my feedback on them. Whenever I get time, I watch his matches,” Naushad explained.“I also had a training session with Haseeb Hameed (who has played 10 Tests for England but is currently out of favour) and (England leg-spinner) Rehan Ahmed in England. All of them enjoyed and appreciated my coaching style,” Naushad concluded.
