Hameed, the lion England found on the India tour

But for the young 19-year-old Lion, the Visakhapatnam innings might have just cemented his place in the England team. Hameed, who has his roots in Gujarat, became the talk of the town at the end of day four here. Critics and experts couldn’t stop praising the teenager, who had shown terrific commitment and composure and made the impossible look possible. He got behind the ball well, played with a straight bat and his high left elbow showed glimpses of excellent technique — till Ravichandran Ashwin struck. 

England fast bowler Stuart Broad had no qualms in admitting that he was a fan of Hameed’s batting in the second innings. “It was a hugely tough innings. It reminded me of an Atherton knock when Donald was coming at him. He got hit first ball, which damaged his hand, but he didn’t show anything and calmly went about his business until tea when he got strapped up. He showed a huge amount of courage, He didn’t let a bit of indifferent bounce change his movements. He was calm out there. 

“He looks made for Test cricket. I don’t want to build him up. As a bowler in his team, he is an enjoyable man to see walk out to bat because you know he has a calm head on his shoulders, he just wants to bat for his team. Runs weren’t on his agenda. He wanted to bat time to give England a chance to save this Test. It’s the sort of cricket I enjoy watching as a fan. It’s that strength of character; sort of ‘I’m not getting out.’ It took a beauty of a ball to get rid of him. Not many batsmen are going to hit that, are they?” Broad wondered. 

Former England captain, Nasser Hussain said he was amazed at the maturity Hameed possessed. “We are used to watching Cook bat and save Test matches but Hameed, who is just 19, was phenomenal. He got hit on the hand, on the thigh pad but he just kept batting. He’s showing a lot of maturity,” the former England captain told Sky Sports. 

Indian one-down batsman Cheteshwar Pujara too concurred with Broad and Hussain but said his dismissal on day four wasn’t unfortunate. “When you are playing in India, the ball will keep low at times. I don’t think it was unfortunate, sometimes you should adjust. But he is impressive and good to watch,” the Rajkot-born player said.