Right-arm pacer Hasan Ali heaped praise on former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mickey Arthur for shaping the careers of players including him and Babar Azam.
The right-arm speedster who stepped foot in international cricket in 2016 under the leadership of Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mickey Arthur as the national team’s head coach, lauded the duo for having confidence in the young players.
“You ask any player who made debut when Arthur was head coach, he will call him the best coach,” he said.
“He used to tell us our importance by calling us champion, tiger, lion, and match winner. He used to support us a lot and that is how players were built during his time,” he added.
Notably, Pakistan lifted their first-ever Champions Trophy title during Arthur’s tenure and Sarfaraz’s captaincy. Hasan Ali played a pivotal role in the team’s historic triumph.
He was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament and was also named the Player of the Tournament.
Hasan then shared that Sarfaraz Ahmed, during his captaincy stint, kept faith in a pool of 15 to 18 players and those players performed and won matches for the country.
“Saifi bhai, then captain, held a meeting in 2018 and told us that we are his main players. The players then used to be selected from a pool of 15 to 18 players. Those players performed for the team and we won matches,” stated Hasan.
Sarfaraz is considered one of the most successful Pakistan captains, having won two ICC titles – Champions Trophy and U19 World Cup – and leading his side to 11 consecutive T20I series victories.
Hasan Ali continued his praise for former head coach Mickey Arthur by giving an example of how he constantly supported Babar Azam in Test cricket which eventually made him equally brilliant in the longest format.
“After every Test, there were talks about dropping Babar in the next series. But Arthur always said that Babar is a match-winner. He believed in him and see how he became a top batter across all formats,” he highlighted.
“You can’t take proper outcome from players until you give them proper chances,” he concluded.
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