Rohit was praised for his nice gesture to allow Khaleel take the limelight by lifting the trophy in Dubai, but he recently revealed that it was in fact former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision and not Rohit’s.
New Delhi: After India's triumph over Bangladesh in the Asia Cup 2018 final recently, the story of the tournament was dominated by the fact that debutant left-arm fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed was made to hold the trophy instead of the stand-in captain Rohit Sharma.
Rohit was praised for his nice gesture to allow Khaleel take the limelight by lifting the trophy in Dubai, but he recently revealed that it was in fact former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision and not Rohit’s.
"Rohit Sharma was asked to let me hold the trophy on the dais, by Dhoni bhai. I was given the trophy because I was the youngest member of the team and it was my debut series. This made it a memorable experience for me," Khaleel was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
This was not the first time that Dhoni, who completed 200 ODIs as India's captain during the tournament, let a youngster hog the limelight after winning a tournament. In Asia Cup, Dhoni returned as India captain, against Afghanistan as Rohit was rested.
Prior to this, the veteran wicket-keeper batsman on almost all occasions that he led the team to the title, let a youngster take the limelight by asking them to hold the trophy.
Even during the IPL, Dhoni has always been seen letting the young bunch of members of the side take the lead in the celebrations during all of his three title triumphs with his team, the Chennai Super Kings.
Hailing from Tonk, Rajasthan, the 20-year-old Khaleel made his debut against Hong Kong impressing straightaway by finishing with figures of 3/48/ in 10 overs.
Looking back, Khaleel called the moment of having held the trophy, besides being emotional, very precious and memorable.
"When Dhoni bhai and Rohit asked me to hold the winning trophy, I was out of words. I turned emotional and will never let that moment from my memory," he said.
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