Abid Ali

Ali has a double century in List A cricket. To put this into perspective, Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan have never achieved this

The Cricketer | 07/05/2019 at 10:12

Born: October 16, 1987

Role: Right-hand bat

Abid Ali will be one of the more unknown players at this year’s World Cup. The batter has never played in the IPL, BBL or County Championship - and he has only made two international appearances for Pakistan.

His ODI debut, which came against Australia in March, was perhaps the highlight of his career. Although they lost the game, Ali scored an excellent 112 off 119 to become the fifteenth batsman, and third for Pakistan, to score a century on ODI debut.

However, his second appearance was not as memorable. Needing 328 to win, the 31-year-old was out for a golden duck as he nicked behind off the bowling of Jason Behrendorff.

Ali’s recent List A form has been excellent. In April, he scored 132 against Balochistan to help Khyber Pakhtunkhwa win the 2019 Pakistan Cup. And with more than 3,000 List A runs to his name, he has plenty of experience.

He also has a double century in the format, scoring an unbeaten 209 off just 156 balls. To put this into perspective, Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan have never achieved this.

Incidentally, Ali has previously played against England. In the 2004 Under-19 World Cup, he came up against the likes of Alastair Cook, Ravi Bopara, Tim Bresnan, Samit Patel and James Hildreth as Pakistan were victorious.

However, the batsman was undone off the bowling of Liam Plunkett – a good omen for England fans.

PAKISTAN PLAYER PROFILES

Shaheen Shah Afridi