Kohli meeting numbs pain for Hameed after unlucky break

Haseeb Hameed admits he was “taken aback” to be told he had to leave the tour of India, but says he used that realisation as an excuse to meet one of his heroes, Virat Kohli, at the end of last week’s third Test in Mohali.

Hameed, who is now in Mumbai as a spectator having had an operation on a badly broken finger in the UK, said he was “devastated” to learn the severity of the injury and tried to plead with the coaches to let him play on with the use of painkillers.

But a dressing-room encounter with Kohli helped to assuage the disappointment of the injury, as he overcame his initial reticence to pick the brains of a player whom he found to be “open, honest and humble”.

“I actually took Moeen Ali with me,” Hameed said. “After I found out I was going home, I said as a bit of a joke, let’s see if we can get hold of Virat for a couple of minutes.

“He’s probably the most sought-after man in world cricket at the minute. I didn’t want to miss that opportunity. Within a couple of minutes he came out. He was great. He said ‘I’m happy to do that, now or later, whenever you want’. He was very obliging.

“I was just trying to get an insight into the way he goes about his business: what he thinks, because that’s what sets him apart from other players in the world.

“The look on his face when he walked out and got runs… I could tell straightaway that he means business and then he went on and delivered.

Inspiring generation next. Young @HaseebHameed97 is all ears to #TeamIndia captain @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/x1ZFgahwZm

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 29, 2016

“I was just trying to get into his mind as much as anything, and he was great: very open and honest. A lot of people see him as this aggressive, borderline-arrogant sort of person on the field, but I think it is pure …

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