Hasan Ali eager to bowl at India's experienced batsman

Pakistan speedster Hasan Ali revealed that he is most eager ahead of the upcoming game. India will take on arch-rivals Pakistan in an eagerly awaited contest on September 19 in Dubai. Hasan Ali, currently ranked number one in the ICC ODI rankings, has already bagged two wickets in the ongoing Asia Cup against Hong Kong. He was instrumental in Pakistan’s victorious 2017 Champions Trophy campaign, for which he was awarded the man of the series.

The final of the tournament was the last encounter between India and Pakistan. Despite being favourites, India suffered a 180-run defeat. Fakhar Zaman was the chief architect of his side’s victory with a gutsy century. The Pakistan bowlers followed up equally well – Hasan Ali and Mohammad Amir bagged three wickets apiece. The India-Pakistan encounter is probably the most anticipated game of this 2018 Asia Cup.

Pakistan have already defeated Hong Kong convincingly on Sunday. Defending champions India will kick off their Asia Cup campaign on September 18 against Hong Kong, and their final group match is against Pakistan on the following day. Ahead of the contest, the right-arm pacer said that the wicket of Indian veteran MS Dhoni was his favourite in their previous meeting.

Speaking to Cricbuzz about the prized wicket, Hasan said, “The last time I took three wickets in the Champions Trophy final, my favorite was MS Dhoni’s wicket. I am looking forward to bowling against him again.”

The 24-year-old has also worked hard on his fitness – his yo-yo test score of 19.3 is better than that of Virat Kohli‘s. “Look I play all three formats and fitness is important to perform consistently at a certain level. That’s the reason why I have been focusing on my fitness,” he said.

Hasan Ali key to Pakistan’s success

Since their massive victory over India in the Champions Trophy final, Hasan Ali has grown from strength to strength. In the 34 ODIs, he has played since, he has bagged a total of 70 scalps, averaging just over 20.

Although Pakistan has got off to a great start, albeit against Hong Kong, skipper Sarfraz Ahmed has called for his team to perform better in their upcoming match against India. “As a captain, I saw a couple of things which we should work on. For us to go the distance in the tournament, we should have won this game (against Hong Kong) by nine or 10 wickets,” he said.

India will be without their skipper Kohli, who has been rested for the Asia Cup after a long series against England. Opener Rohit Sharma will take up captaincy duties in Kohli’s absence.

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