Surrey eyeing Azhar Ali after missing out on Virat Kohli

Former Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali may well be the target of England county club Surrey following the latter’s current plight and toil to land Indian captain Virat Kohli. Recently, the 30-year old Kohli had pulled out of his much-anticipated six-week County stint following a neck injury and several reported back spasms.

Several cricket fans in England had anticipated the arrival of Kohli in the wild hopes of witnessing a top-class cricketer and perhaps the best batsman in the world ply his trade in what would have been his first stint in overseas domestic cricket. However, in spite of this setback, Surrey now set their sights on Azhar Ali, the batsman who is currently in England following the conclusion of the Pakistani tour.

The recently-concluded tour yielded mixed fortunes for the Sarfraz Ahmed-led side. While the win in Lord’s did indeed give a lot of hope for the youthful side, the loss at Headingley brought everything back to square one. In the grand scheme of things, at the very least.

Mickey Arthur backs Azhar and Shafiq to play County Cricket

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur, although livid following the loss in the second Test has come out and backed the senior statesmen of the batting unit – Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq to come good in county cricket. He also added that he would certainly encourage the same for both players.

“Our chosen players, we’re hoping to get Azhar and Asad to play some county cricket.  There is a little bit of interest at the moment, for a short period of time. Because those guys don’t go to these [T20] leagues and stuff, if they were to play county cricket we’d certainly encourage that.”

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