Azhar Ali hopeful of Lord's debut

[Nawaz]

Azhar Ali, one of the rookie Pakistan batsmen selected for the tour of England, is hoping to make his Test debut at Lord's where they face Australia in the first of two Tests starting July 13. The right-handed batsman from Lahore was in the reserves for the Asia Cup and this is his first tour with the senior team.

Azhar is among three new faces in the Test squad and if picked for the first Test, he could be the first Pakistan batsman to debut at Lord's after Shadab Kabir in 1996.

"I have always dreamt of making my debut for Pakistan at Lord's and as luck would have it, our opening Test is at Lord's," Azhar told Pakpassion.net. "I really hope that I am given the opportunity to debut at Lord's, as it's a ground steeped in tradition and history."

Azhar, 25, believes his patience and willingness to occupy the crease for long periods will help his cause.

"I like to play long innings and have no problems in being patient at the crease," Azhar said. "I know the opposition will be tough in England, but I am confident that I can provide Pakistan with stability and a degree of calmness and assurance at the top of the order. I have experience of conditions in England having played league cricket over here, so hopefully I can use that experience to my advantage".

Azhar added that he got useful advice on batting from former captain Javed Miandad during a camp last month. "Javed was watching the batsmen at the emerging players camp and he came over and talked to me about the importance of crease occupation, not letting the opposition bowlers force you out of your comfort zone and playing each delivery on merit," Azhar said. "I think he liked what he saw in my batting and I will always be grateful for the advice he gave me".

Azhar was picked after scoring 445 runs in ten games with a personal best of 153 for Khan Research Laboratories in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

(Cricinfo)

[Nawaz]

I think the opener position is very much available alongside Salman butt, it comes down to this match at leicester to see if Azhar ali can outscore farhat, I have a feeling Amin who did well opening will be used in a no 3 role possibly but has competition from hameeed.

[Nawaz]

Its been a difficult test for the debutants but Ali has done well, hes looked fairly solid here, the key for him is to develop an increased patience and play of the bad balls like hes doing in the 2nd innings, I think he could move upto an opener now farhat has failed as thats what he plays domestically.

[Nawaz]

Commies analysing ali here, says his technique is good and commented on how hes 25 when made his debut when pak usually debut players a lot earliar.

[Nawaz]

2 boundaries in sucession, not good shots though both were outside edges, risky play from ali, needs to leave balls here.

[Nawaz]

Azhar ali moves onto 40, good start from him but we need centuries from someone today.

[Nawaz]

Shane warne and ramiz saying his technique is promising, just needs a good mental approach and he could be a good batsman.

[Nawaz]

There he goes, decent innings of 41, but struggled against the outswinger and edges it to Paine.

[Shakespeare]

He looked good till he got out

[Nawaz]

Originally Posted by Shakespeare

He looked good till he got out

He played a patient innings, was a decent debut considering its lords and against the best test side over the last decade, I think he has the temperament to be a regular for this side.

[Shakespeare]

Originally Posted by Nawaz

He played a patient innings, was a decent debut considering its lords and against the best test side over the last decade, I think he has the temperament to be a regular for this side.

Agreed (to some extent)

[Gasherbrum]

looked promising. doesn't shuffle about much, waits for the ball and seemed confident enough. mental toughness and an extended spell with the team are now needed. get the lad hooked up with nasser hussain, boycott, greig etc in england and have him soak up their experiences.

[Maulana Diesal]

play yasir hameed at 4, malik at 6 now afridi is no more,


ali can play at 3, why not.

[inswing]

Although the 2 debutants didn't make debuts for us to remember but they did pretty well against the world's best side on a uk pitch, they certainly have the abilities to become good batsmen for Pakistan in all three formats, however pcb need to give these 2 time which is unlikely to happend as we all know pcb are bunch of fools when it comes to developing youngsters.

[Nawaz]

I think he will be promoted next match after his good start, we need someone willing to block a lot of deliveries which ali can do and build a good start for the rest of the side.

[Shakespeare]

blocking a lot of deliveries reminds of wajahat ullah wasti

[Nawaz]

He is a decent player, very nervous starter of an innings but hes got a good shot selection, problem is leaving the seaming delivery thats how he always gets out.

[Faisal]

he needs to get out of the nervous 20's to 40's for him.

[Shakespeare]

He did well to hang in there.. infact very very well !! against an opposition like australia...

[Faisal]

Let's see if he gets his maiden 50 in about 13 hours or not?

[Nawaz]

What a soft dismissal, he didn't even edge the ball and he walked off and he should have stayed on, he played a good innings briefly and was only one looking like he could stay at the crease.

[Faisal]

we should still stick with him for now but pak need to learn to use the reviews properly and when needed.

[Nawaz]

I think after this humiliating loss there will be calls for the seniors to come back in, him and amin simply have not performed to the standard we need the proven players back.

[Shakespeare]

ofcourse we need them back !!


we don't call them seniors for nothing

[Gasherbrum]

unlucky really in this test, even the second innings could've been given not out. needs to play all four tests against england.

[Maulana Diesal]

enter the only world class batsman in this current squad aka Yasir hameed.

[Nawaz]

Someone really needs to tell him to rotate the strike, he gets stuck at the crease blocking and then under pressure goes out, if he rotated strike would take a lot of pressure of him.

[Gasherbrum]

was super in the first innings. batted with patience and then controlled it really well with the tail. unlucky not to have reached a well deserved 100.

[Faisal]

will have a 2nd chance to play at Lords so hope he makes most of it.

[Invictus]

He has shown enough to be part of the test team. He atleast makes sure we freaking get to play more then 2 sessions. But he should play up the order somewhere in the top 4. He is the type that consumes allot of deliveries. So he needs all the time in the world. If I had my way I would squeeze him between Younis and Yousuf. So Younis at 3, him at 4 and Yousuf at 5. That would give us some stability in the middle.

[legend]

If fawad gets to play 10 games, we'll see that:

Fawad >> Salman Butt