Hassan Azad joins SACA to aid search for a new county following release by Leicestershire

NICK FRIEND: Azad, 28, remains without a new county after being let go in September despite a first-class average of 36.7 through 52 career matches

Former Leicestershire opener Hassan Azad has joined up with the South Asian Cricket Academy after his release at the end of last season.

Azad, 28, remains without a new county after being let go in September despite a first-class average of 36.7 through 52 career matches.

He is training three or four times per week in Birmingham with SACA, who have seen four players (and a coach – Shaftab Khalid has joined Warwickshire) come through their system to be signed by counties since their foundation. He is set to move to Birmingham to train on a full-time basis, with a view to being the next cab off the SACA rank.

Remarkably, he is yet to make a white-ball appearance as a professional, though that – from his perspective – is by accident rather than by design.

^{Hassan Azad has joined the South Asian Cricket Academy [Getty Images]}

^{Azad was released by Leicestershire in September [Getty Images]}

He earned his deal with Leicestershire originally through runs in club cricket and in 50-over cricket for the county's second team, for whom he made 179 on his debut, while many of the leading batters in the Royal London Cup were previously perceived to be red-ball experts.

Speaking to The Cricketer shortly after his departure from Leicestershire, Azad admitted that his fate, given a lack of limited-over record to speak of, had made him wonder about his future in the game.

"I think the second part of the season especially has been a very humbling experience for me in that it has been a lot harder than I realised," said Azad, "possibly because of the direction in which the sport is heading.

HASSAN AZAD: FIRST-CLASS CAREER RECORD

Matches: 52

Innings: 87

Runs: 2,900

Average: 36.70

100s: 7

HS: 152

"Ultimately, it's confirmed some of my fears about the stock of a red-ball specialist in a world that is quickly moving on."

Azad, who remains on the lookout for a new county, scored 579 runs in 2022 at 28.95 and reflected that the circumstances of his contract talks, which ultimately fell through, were "to nobody's fault, a little bit of a distraction" during the second half of the season.

"I do feel like I let myself down in the last six games, which wasn't through a lack of form," he added. "They were preventable mistakes: a couple of runouts, a couple of poor decisions. Suddenly, you go from averaging 40 to finishing the season averaging 29, and it looks very different.

^{Azad is still without a new county [Getty Images]}

"I think the uncertainty got to me in terms of how I was feeling within myself; I felt like there was a lot more riding for me on each game, so I was putting more pressure on myself.

"I understand that it's a privilege to play cricket professionally. I knew that going in because of how much I struggled to gain entry. But I also know how difficult sport can be: I know what it means to play, and I've just really enjoyed it.

"I know that it's not everything, but I still want to give cricket a go. I still have a lot to offer."

Related Topics

• Saqib Mahmood joined by Alex Lees and Haseeb Hameed for England Lions tour of Sri Lanka