Avesh Khan the cool cat from Indore, with no dhannat, no bhannat

Last year, days after he was named in the Indian team, a very excited reporter from his hometown had asked Avesh Khan a question that had a rich sprinkling of charmingly rich Indori Hindi. Throwing in a couple of onomatopeic local slangs she asked with unadulterated enthusiasm: “Indore apni dhannat and bhannat ke liye prachilit hai, aapki ball mai kitni dhannat and bhannat dekhi jayegi?” It will be on the weak legs of words like “thunder” and “swagger” that the English language can venture anywhere near dhannat and bhannat.

Avesh got the drift in the blink of an eye and it would have been so easy for the pacer, capable of consistently clocking in high 140 kph, to give the headline that the rookie had dreamt. But he let facts come in the way of a great headline. “Nahi dimaag se bowling daalu woh jyada better hai, nahi ki hosh kho ke. Agar thande dimag se bowling daalo toh jyada successful ho sakte ho (No it is better to bowl with a cool mind, that’s what makes you succeed,” he replied. Avesh was being truthful, his steady rise among the ranks is because of his calm mind and not his supersonic deliveries.

Even as a junior and an u-19 World Cup winner, the boy from Indore had got noticed because of his speed. Within a couple of years, he even touched 150 kph in a Syed Mushtaq game but Avesh was never seen as the next Shoaib Akhtar. No one was rushing to call him Indore Express. His action too played a big role in him being seen as a thinking pacer. Avesh didn’t charge to the crease, his was a run-up of a bowler keeping a close eye, plotting his dismissal while in stride.