Abid Ali: Another talent ignored by Pakistan for too long

When Fawad Alam was recalled to Pakistan's Test squad for their home series against Sri Lanka after a gap of 10 years, all the focus was on how Pakistan cricket managed to ignore the constant knocking on the doors of the selectors by this extremely talented batsman who piled on more than 12000 runs in domestic cricket. However, there was one more talented batsman in this squad by the name of Abid Ali who was also ignored for too long by the selectors and he was finally ready in the eyes of selectors to make his Test debut for Pakistan at the ripe old age of 32.

Test cricket returned to Pakistan after a gap of 10 years after the terrorist attacks back in 2009 on the Sri Lankan cricket team. Abid Ali made this Test homecoming sweeter by smashing an unbeaten 109* on debut versus Sri Lanka at Rawalpindi. Although the match ended in a draw thanks to rain, questions were raised after watching Abid's batting. Why wasn't this player given a chance before? How come such a big talent took so late to blossom? How does Pakistan cricket manage to overlook such talent?

Abid Ali after scoring his maiden ODI hundred on debut versus Australia in March 2019.

Going little back in time, Australia had toured UAE and had played an ODI series against Pakistan back in March 2019. With the Cricket World Cup just around the corner, both the teams were looking to find the best possible team combinations and with the opening slots up for grabs for Pakistan, Abid Ali made his ODI debut and scored a brilliant 112. This hundred suddenly made headlines in Pakistan cricket and around the world as his brilliant strokeplay and good technical ability meant that Pakistan had found a suitable opening batsman for the World Cup.

Abid's knock was so impressive that he was quickly made a part of the 15-man preliminary World Cup squad and was also a part of the squad that toured England for a five-match ODI series just before the World Cup. However, he was excluded from the final World Cup squad and this raised a few eyebrows as he had just played four ODIs and had scored a hundred on debut. Pakistan had to pay for this mistake as Fakhar Zaman struggled throughout the World Cup and failed to give a solid start to Pakistan in any game with fellow opener Imam-ul-Haq.

Abid though, did not feel disheartened by this and began to prepare for the upcoming domestic season. He smashed a brilliant 249* for Sindh against Balochistan in the Qaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan's premier domestic cricket competition. His fine form was rewarded as he was selected in Pakistan's squad that toured Australia for a two-match Test series. However, once again he was not given a place in the playing eleven as Azhar Ali opened with Shaan Masood in the first Test while Imam-ul-Haq opened with Masood in the second Test. This constant snubbing of Abid did not go down well as Pakistan could not get a steady start in any of their innings Down Under and suffered a 2-0 whitewash.

But it is rightly said that perseverance pays off one day and Abid Ali was finally given his Test debut against Sri Lanka and he showed just what the Pakistan team were missing at the top of the order, scoring a brilliant 109*. He became the only player to score a hundred on both Test debut and ODI debut and became an overnight star. He backed up this performance with another hundred, this time an even bigger one (174) in the second Test at Karachi which helped Pakistan to win the Test as well as the series.

The question that remains unanswered is how Pakistan cricket does not reward such talented batsmen early and how do they just keep on overlooking the efforts that they put in. Former cricketer Rameez Raja said on his YouTube channel, "Pakistan selectors have always tried to pick players from the T20 and one-day sides but they need to understand that players who have a strong base in four-day domestic games can be successful in all three formats."

Abid Ali had scored tons of runs in domestic cricket and had a stellar 2012-13 season scoring 1083 runs but he was snubbed by the selectors saying that he was carrying too much weight and did not pass the fitness parameters required. With experienced players like Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan retiring in 2016, Abid Ali would have been an ideal addition to the Test squad as he had lots of experience in domestic cricket and had he been given a chance back in 2013, he would have learnt a lot under Misbah and Younis.

But as they say, it is better late than never and with a new domestic structure in place, Pakistan cricket will be hopeful of identifying such talented players early and help them groom into world-class players for Pakistan in the future. Abid Ali will be looking to feature consistently for Pakistan and help them by contributing as many runs as he can.