Sania Mirza comes to rescue of Hassan Ali after he says pizza is not junk food

Pakistan pacer Hassan Ali has been trolled on the social media once again and it was not because of the humiliating loss that his team faced against the Windies in Nottingham on Friday. The 24-year-old medium-fast bowler recently expressed his idea that pizza is not a junk food while speaking at a fun talk show with team-mate Shadab Khan and his viewpoint did not go down well with the Twitterati.

Pakistani sports anchor Zainab Abbas had the two cricketers play a game called ‘How Well Do You Know Each Other’ as part of the promotions for the World Cup and there, Hassan remarked that pizza is not junk food. This he said when Shadab, a 20-year-old all-rounder, assumed the Italian delight as his favorite junk food. Hassan also added that pizza is good for recovery and he was at once the target of the social media.

At this point, ace Indian tennis player Sania Mirza came to Hassan’s rescue by saying that his viewpoint was right. Sania, the wife of veteran Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik who did not play against the Windies, said in a tweet that pizza helps in recovery after long and hard games for carbs are required for recovery. She also found support in some fans.

“Pizza is not junk food it’s good for recovery” what wisdom by Hassan Ali

— Ghumman (@emclub77) May 29, 2019

He is actually right ! It’s very good recovery specially after long and hard matches .. not the full cheesy one but the gourmet ones are definitely very good .. the carbs are necessary and needed for recovery https://t.co/n3XT9X47FJ

— Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) May 29, 2019

Indeed it is… A lot of football teams eat it as well post match!

— Anubhav Roda (@anubhav_roda) May 29, 2019

Ebba Qureshi, wife of former Pakistan allrounder Azhar Mahmood also threw her weight behind Hassan saying pizzas are good for recovery “because of carbs”, especially after a game.

It is used for recovery because of the carbs – esp after game l

— Ebba Qureshi (@EbbaQ) May 29, 2019

Neither Hassan nor Shadab had a good game against the Windies at Trent Bridge. While Shadab fell to the man of the match Oshane Thomas for a golden duck, Hassan scored one run in four balls as Pakistan were all out for a meager 105. Hassan had a poor outing with the ball too as he gave away 39 runs in four overs without any luck. Mohammad Amir hit form by picking three wickets for 26 runs as the Caribbeans won by 7 wickets.

The Pakistani players have come under criticism from former players over their diet in recent times. While former skipper Wasim Akram said recently that the players were having biryani in the run-up to the World Cup, former speedster Shoaib Akhtar lashed out at captain Sarfaraz Ahmed saying he looked fat and unfit in the West Indies game.