http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Azhar-Ali-c46890- Tale of a right arm leg spinner who decided to become a top order batsman
Since making his debut against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 team’s tour of England in 2010, Azhar Ali has cemented his place in Test cricket as a top-order batsman.
He is lucky enough to have been given a long run at the international stage to prove his worth and he has definitely not let the selectors down through some consistent performances.
Azhar is lucky that he belongs from a family which has a sporting background. His father has been an athlete himself and that was the reason why all his sons played cricket at the club level. Azhar Ali’s elder brother, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashraf-Ali-c46398 is also a first-class cricketer
and just like Azhar, he is a prolific batsman in the domestic cricket of Pakistan.
Azhar was in love with the game since he was a kid and started to play club cricket with his elder brothers. He came through the ranks of junior cricket in Lahore and then went on to represent Pakistan Under-15s and Pakistan Under-19s.
He started playing cricket as a right arm leg spinner and soon got the attention of the junior selectors with an action which was similar to his role model http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mushtaq-Ahmed-c78096. That was the reason why he got picked for the Costcutter Under-15s World Challenge
in 2000. Later on he played the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 as a leg spinner as well and made his first-class debut in the same year representing Lahore.
The budding cricketer was soon employed by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-Research-Laboratories-c804 because of his skills with the ball. Azhar continued to play the domestic cricket but struggled to perform as he was facing a lot of difficulties with his bowling action.
In 2006, he made the decision of his life and decided to take up batting more seriously and became a top-order batsman who could bowl part time leg spin.
In his very first season as a batsman, Azhar scored 2 hundreds and as many half-centuries in five matches to cement his spot in KRL’s playing eleven. His brilliant performances continued for four consecutive years as he is currently averaging 38.04 in first-class
cricket and has scored eleven hundreds.
Azhar’s consistent showings in first-class cricket earned him a Test Cap in 2010 when Pakistan team did not have the services of Mohammad Yousaf and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Younis-Khan-c98325 in the all-important tour of England. Since then he has played 12 Test matches for Pakistan on
the trot and is now a permanent fixture of the batting order at the all-important number three
The Test specialist has scored 783 runs in Test cricket so far with an impressive average of 37.28 runs per innings with the help of eight half-centuries.
The 26-year old batsman is yet to score a hundred in Test cricket but his solid technique and some gritty innings against Australia, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and New Zealand have impressed one and all. The hallmark of Azhar’s batting is his near to flawless
technique and temperament which helps him to spend long hours at the crease.
It is quite rare in Pakistan cricket that batsmen come with a good technique but Azhar surely has one and it is up to the selectors and the team management to give him confidence. His is still new at the international level and he is bound to have some failures
as well but Pakistan should http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Adrian-Roger-Kirshaw-Pierson-c42135 with him because he has the potential to deliver the goods under trying circumstances.
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