ICC World Cup 2023: Is Hassan Ali The Best Replacement Of Naseem Shah?

HASSAN ALI AS REPLACEMENT OF NASEEM SHAH:

The pace sensation of the Pakistan team, Naseem Shah was injured in the match against India and now the scans revealed that he is out of the cricket for 4-6 months.

This means that after this injury, Hassan Ali is all set to make a come-back into the Pakistan team as he has been selected in the Pakistan team as the replacement for Naseem Shah for the World Cup 2023.

HASSAN ALI’S ODI CAREER:

The right-arm Pakistani pacer was the star of the Champions Trophy 2017, where he was the Player of the Tournament for Pakistan in the famous CT17 victory.

In his ODI career, Hassan Ali has played 60 matches for Pakistan and has picked up 91 wickets at an average of around 30, but things are not as simple as these stats will tell you, which are as follows;

MATCHES	INNINGS	WICKETS	AVERAGE	BBI	5 WKTS
60	58	91	30.3	5/34	4

FIRST PHASE (2016 – 2018)

In the first phase of his career, Hassan Ali was quite exceptional with the ball where in just 41 matches, he claimed 75 wickets at an average of just 23.4 runs.

MATCHES	INNINGS	WICKETS	AVERAGE	BBI	5 WKTS
41	40	75	23.4	5/34	3

SECOND PHASE (2018 – 2022)

Hassan Ali’s ODI career took an unexpected U-Turn when since 2018, he played 19 ODI matches but averaged more than 60 with the ball which was quite disappointing.

He was dropped from the Pakistan team and the stats also back that decision of dropping Hassan Ali from the Pakistan team, which are given below:

MATCHES	INNINGS	WICKETS	AVERAGE	BBI	5 WKTS
19	18	16	62.9	5/51	1

WHY HASSAN ALI IS AGAIN SELECTED?

The right-arm pacer of Pakistan, Hassan Ali is selected because of his recent performances and is also the best option available after the injury of Naseem Shah and your backup pacers as well.

• Any team will back their senior pro who has done heroics for the team in the past when there is no other reliable option available for the team for big tournaments.

• Another important aspect is the batting of Hassan Ali which is way better than the likes of Hasnain, Ihsanullah, and Zaman Khan and no team wants to have a long tail in the World Cup.

But people here will make you believe that he was selected on ‘’ DOSTI QUOTA ‘’ which is not true and it is disappointing to see fans making fun of players.

HASSAN ALI’S RECENT BOWLING FORM AND PERFORMANCES:

Hassan Ali has given exceptional performances in three previous tournaments he played in 2023, he played County Championship 2023, Vitality Blast 2023, and Lanka League 2023 before his injury and selection in the Pakistan squad.

COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP 2023 –

The Pakistani pacer played 6 matches in CCC this year and picked up 24 wickets at an average of around 20, and the stats are as follows;

MATCHES	INNINGS	WICKETS	AVERAGE	BBI	STRIKE RATE
6	11	24	21.5	4/48	36.1

VITALITY BLAST 2023 –

He also played the Vitality Blast 2023 season for Birmingham Bears and picked up 9 wickets in 5 matches, the stats of Hassan In VB23 are as follows;

MATCHES	INNINGS	WICKETS	AVERAGE	BBI	STRIKE RATE
5	5	9	14.3	3/25	12.6

LANKA PREMIER LEAGUE 2023 –

Before his injury, Hassan was also performing in the LPL 2023 where he picked up 8 wickets in 5 matches for his team, the performances of Hassan in LPL23 are as follows;

MATCHES	INNINGS	WICKETS	AVERAGE	BBI	STRIKE RATE
5	5	8	16.1	3/16	14.2

ROLE OF HASSAN ALI IN PAKISTAN TEAM:

Hassan Ali is expected to play the same role that he used to do in his prime days, the role of a middle-overs enforcer as we all know that Pakistan is lacking to pick wickets in the middle overs.

So, we all should stop dragging out his previous ODI stats again and again and just hope that he does well for the Pakistan team in the World Cup 2023. He is now a very important member of Pakistan’s bowling line-up and we should not put more pressure on him by criticizing him on social media.

CONCLUSION:

As we all know, other pacers like Ihsanullah, Naseem Shah, and Muhammad Hasnain are injured So, Hassan Ali was the best option to be replaced regardless of what will be his performances in the World Cup 2023.

The only options available were Zaman Khan and Arshad Iqbal and I don’t think any team would want to pick a debutant as their third seamer in a World Cup tournament.

He is also not that bad if we check out his recent performances in the leagues where he has played since his exclusion from the Pakistan team. These performances are quite good for someone who is added to the team because some first-choice pacers were injured.