The 27-year-old, who is following in Wasim Akram's footsteps at Lancashire, plans to learn Anderson's cross-seam ball and take "lots of wickets" in his six-match County Championship stint
Hassan Ali is relishing the opportunity to share Lancashire's dressing room with England's all-time leading Test wicket-taker James Anderson, admitting he will "disturb him" with endless questions about his bowling.
The 27-year-old Pakistan international, who has taken 246 wickets at 23.78 in 58 first-class appearances, will be available for Lancashire's first six matches of the season and is set to make his debut against Kent on April 14.
Speaking at the club's media day, Hassan – who was wrapped up warm in his Lancashire coat as he adapted to Manchester's climate – said: "I'm very excited and looking forward to sharing the dressing room with their players. Obviously, we have Jimmy bhai, Jimmy Anderson, so I'm very happy and very excited.
"I never spoke with him before, but now I'm going to have a lot of questions to ask him. I'm going to disturb him.
"We know he's a great bowler. He swings the ball both ways. I'm going to learn how he swings the ball both ways, especially the cross-seam ball. I'm going to learn it."
Hassan has happy memories of playing at Emirates Old Trafford, making his T20I debut at the ground in 2016 and going on to appear in a Cricket World Cup match against India and a second T20I, and having spoken to Lancashire teammate Saqib Mahmood about the conditions, he is confident he can take "lots of wickets".
Hassan Ali (right) has played three international matches at Emirates Old Trafford [Lindsey Parnaby/Getty Images]
"Saqib told me the ball reverses here and I like to reverse the ball," he said. "As Pakistanis, since childhood we reverse swing because of the tough conditions, dry conditions, for bowlers.
"Hopefully I'll get some reverse and get lots of wickets for my team, Lancashire. Let's hope, fingers crossed."
Singing Mahmood's praises as a bowler, he continued: "I played with Saqib bhai for Peshawar Zalmi and he's a good guy and an exciting player. He's just made his Test debut and I'm very happy for him. He was the best bowler when he left [Peshawar Zalmi]; he's a good player."
In joining Lancashire, Hassan is following in the footsteps of several Pakistani players, most notably Wasim Akram, who took 374 wickets at 21.63 in 91 red-ball appearances for the club.
He's also one of 10 Pakistan internationals to earn a contract for the 2022 county season, alongside Shan Masood (Derbyshire), Zafar Gohar, Naseem Shah (both Gloucestershire), Mohammad Abbas (Hampshire), Shaheen Shah Afridi (Middlesex), Mohammad Rizwan (Sussex), Azhar Ali (Worcestershire), Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan (both Yorkshire).
"I think it’s a really good sign for Pakistan cricket," he said. "We have nine or ten players who are going to play this season. We're going to get lots of experience from here and we'll put it into our domestic and international cricket.
"Since childhood, we've heard about county cricket and as a professional, you should play county cricket. [We're] going to learn a lot of things from it."
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