Basit Ali
Basit Ali (Urdu: باسط علی, born December 13, 1970, in Karachi, Sindh) is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in 19 Tests and 50 ODIs from 1993 to 1996. He was recognized by many to have a similar batting style as Javed Miandad. A right-hander, he has the relatively uncommon statistic of having a higher ODI than Test batting average. Strong through the covers and point, Ali was also a nerveless hooker and puller against the fast bowlers. Appointed as National Pakistan Cricket Coach in 2016, after world twenty 2016 in India.
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 13 December 1970 Karachi, Sindh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-hand bat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm offbreak | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut (cap 126) | 16 April 1993 v West Indies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 8 December 1995 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 89) | 23 March 1993 v West Indies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 16 April 1996 v South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: ESPNcricinfo, 4 February 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic career
Ali was a successful junior cricketer, at one time holding the record for most hundreds in a Karachi zonal league season.[1]
International career
He debuted for Pakistan aged 22 in March 1993, playing both ODI and Test cricket in a tour of the Caribbean. For similarities and batting styles and temperament, he was initially seen as the one who'd take the mantle of Pakistani batting from Great Javed Miandad. He went on to play in 19 Tests but made just the one Test century, against New Zealand in 1993-94.
An aggressive risk taker, he was a regular in the Pakistani ODI side for a while in the mid 1990s. In November 1993 he scored the then second fastest One Day International century in history, with a 67 ball effort against the West Indies at Sharjah. He took 5 more balls as compared to the record of Mohammad Azharuddin who took 62 balls. Basit Ali finished on 127 not out. Waqar Younis was acting captain in that match.[2]
Controversies
Basit Ali became involved in a controversy when he commented on Pakistani television on June 27, 2019 that India would intentionally lose to England and Sri Lanka because they ‘never want Pakistan to reach the semifinals' in the 2019 Cricket World Cup.[3] The former Pakistani cricketer said on ARY News, ″India have played five matches and they will never want Pakistan to reach the semifinals. They are yet to play Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Everyone saw the manner in which they beat Afghanistan…”. His comments left even the anchor perplexed and prompted him to confirm with Ali whether he was actually suggesting that India will lose on purpose. “They’ll play in a way where you won’t know if they’re losing on purpose,” Ali replied. “What happened against Afghanistan? What did Australia do against India? Warner saab yehi the na (This was the same Warner, no?)” he added, referring to the Australian opener David Warner, who scored a century against Pakistan. After this prediction, India did lose to England. India didn't show any fight in the whole game according to many cricket experts. India's former cricketer Sourav Ganguly also said that "He Doesn't Have 'Explanation' For MS Dhoni's Baffling Batting".[4]
Basit Ali's comments subjected him to ridicule and trolling from media and cricket fans alike in both Pakistan and India. Indian cricketer, Harbhajan Singh told himself stupid for challenging Basit Ali.
References
- "Return of the prodigal".
- "The Hindu : 7th fastest ODI hundred". www.hindu.com.
- "Twitter Can't Stop Roasting This Pakistani Cricketer's Conspiracy Theory About India at World Cup". news18.com. 28 June 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
- "Cricket World Cup: Sourav Ganguly Says He Doesn't Have 'Explanation' For MS Dhoni's Baffling Batting". outlookindia.com. 29 June 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
- "World Cup 2019: Harbhajan Singh slams Basit Ali for his unsavoury comments regarding India". indiatoday.in. 29 June 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2019.