With Kohli just a call away, Haseeb piles on runs in his quest for an England return

Kohli shared his number with Haseeb after that meeting. “Virat, in that first tour, playing against him, I was lucky enough to speak to him at the end of my tour. When I had my injury, he was kind enough to spare me a few moments. He shared his number with me and said, ‘If ever you want to reach out, please feel free to do so.’ But no, I mean, again, that just speaks of what an incredible person. He’s probably the biggest superstar in the game, maybe even ever, if you look at his kind of social media following. So for him to be so willing to kind of give his time and personal space to someone, he didn’t need to do that. I was a young kid, 19-year-old. Yeah, like he didn’t need to do that. But the fact that he was so willing and able to do that was, yeah, speaks testament of him as a character.”

Apart from Kohli, Hashim Amla, former South Africa player, also lends advice whenever Haseeb needs it. “Yeah, Hashim is another one, actually. He’s been really helpful as well. A couple of guys that I just love talking about batting to because they’re both obviously incredible players, but also understand the game too.”

Hameed, who moved to Notts from Lancashire in 2020, is yet to play for England under the current regime but he’s doing his bit, at least in terms of run-scoring. In 2024, he was the fourth highest with 1091 at an average of 51.9. In the ongoing edition in the County Championship’s top-tier, he’s second with 848 at an average of 70.6, apart from a slight uptick in strike rate (61.2 compared to 53.2).