Amjad gets England call

Amjad Khan replaces the injured Ryan Sidebottom in the England Test squad

England have named Amjad Khan as a replacement for the injured Ryan Sidebottom in their squad for the scheduled two-Test tour of India.

Denmark-born Kent fast bowler Amjad will join Kevin Pietersen’s squad tonight, while Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid will also travel with the squad but has not officially been added to it.

Left-armer Sidebottom is not among those currently preparing in Abu Dhabi for a series set to start in Chennai on Thursday, having suffered a side strain during the aborted one-day leg of the pre-Christmas tour.

Amjad, 28, whose parents are from Pakistan, has been on Kent’s books for eight years and qualified for England in 2006.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Amjad. “Although I never actually thought of playing for England growing up.”

He only returned from a career-threatening knee injury last summer but has impressed coach Peter Moores and captain Kevin Pietersen with his pace and ability to reverse-swing the ball during three days of practice at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

Amjad edged out Sajid Mahmood in the selection equation - the pair were drafted in as one-day cover hours before the tour was aborted in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.

“I must have done something right in the last couple of days,” said Amjad.

“Saj and I got picked for the one-dayers and I thought if they were going to pick me then there was no reason they should not pick me for the Tests.

“I thought I had a chance but I knew it would come down to form on the day - that sort of stuff.

“I first believed I could play for England probably in 2002 when I took 60 wickets in a season and I was only 21. People talked about what it took to play international cricket and I felt that I had most of the attributes.”

“From then on it has been a battle - I had a couple of poor seasons but that is when I first realised what my potential could be.”

Amjad’s impressive start to life as a county cricketer encountered a dip in form and then received a more serious blow at an England A fast-bowling camp two years ago in India.

Khan feels he has most of the attributes to be an international

The damage to his knee kept him out for more than 12 months and he only returned to Kent’s first team in the second half of last season.

So how does a former Danish international feel about heading back to India on a full England tour following the disruption provided by the Mumbai attacks?

“I am quite excited obviously,” he said. “Since being successful at Kent it is something I started dreaming about.

“When I got the passport I was pretty close but I got injured so to overcome that injury is pretty emotional, and I am happy about it.

“I was away with England A and felt something click in my knee and it was serious.

“The surgeon said there was a 70% chance of success because there was cartilage damage and these things heal but some of them do not heal properly.

“It took me a while, about two months, to get back to the old pace but now I am probably better than I was before.

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t doubt I would play again.

“Every day you have that doubt in your mind but you do your rehab and it started getting better, which gave me a lot of confidence.”

Amjad was first attracted to cricket on visits back to his parents’ homeland from Copenhagen as a young boy and only discovered the sport was played in Denmark by chance when he was on the way to football practice one day.

Two decades later, he is capable of generating good speed and offers the England party something different in the absence of left-armer Sidebottom.

“It is not just about pace for me, it is swing as well,” he said. “We have been messing around with reversing balls here and that is probably what I can do differently.

“If I can get some of that in India it would be ideal and could set me apart from some of the other bowlers.

“At the moment India are probably the best side in the world and it is a tough place to tour.

“It is an opportunity because if I can play well in those conditions, I can play well anywhere.”