'The guidance I received that night helped me perform better' - Haider Ali recalls how Hashim Amla motivated him after failing

Haider Ali, the young batsman from Pakistan emerged as one of the exciting players in the fifth edition of Pakistan Super League. Talks are also going on to include him in the national side. The 20-year-old has now revealed about the secret of his exceedingly brilliant performances in the T20 tournament and credited the former South Africa cricketer Hashim Amla, who was the assistant batting coach of Peshawar Zalmi in PSL 2020.

The youngster played for Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL this year. The right-handed batsman didn’t get off to a great start with the bat as he failed to perform in his very first game. But he ended pretty high on the charts scoring 239 runs in nine innings at an average of 29.87 and a strike-rate of 158.27. Haider Ali played some brilliant knocks helping his side win some crucial games.

I have never seen a better person than Hashim Amla: Haider Ali

Haider revealed that it was the motivation given by Hashim Amla that helped him in performing well in the tournament. He also recalled the time at the start of the PSL 2020 when the South African wanted to meet him after his failure in the first game.

He added that Amla got in touch with him and asked for his room number. Haider Ali cited that being a legendary player, Amla could’ve called him into his room but that wasn’t case.

“I have never seen a better person than Hashim Amla in my life because of the way he motivates a player. I could not perform well in my first match against Karachi Kings which is why I was very upset. Later that night, Hashim bhai got in touch with me and asked about my room number. He wanted to motivate me as I was very depressed,” Ali said while speaking on BSports Pakistan’s YouTube channel.

“He could have asked me to come to his room but, despite being a legendary player, he was the one who wanted to  visit me which was very surprising. But instead of him coming to my room, I went to his. The guidance I received, that night, really helped me perform better in the tournament,” he added.