Everyone today is singing praises of cricket star Asif Ali, who led the national team to victory against Afghanistan and New Zealand in the T20 World Cup.
Thanks to his exceptional and timely sixes, Pakistan team is at the top of points table of the Group B.
There was a lot of controversy over Asif Ali’s inclusion in the national team in the T20 World Cup. Literally everyone started criticizing chief selector for including a player whose performance had been so inconsistent over the past two years.
From being labeled as a ‘Parchi’, to bombardment of taunts on social media, Asif Ali was the most criticized player of Pakistan cricket.
The journey of the Faisalabadi power-hitter we saw on fire on Friday night was never a straight line. Asif had to face many difficulties in his personal and professional life.
Just before the 2019 Cricket World Cup, his daughter Fatima lost her life due to cancer at the age of just 18 months. Being in the field with pain of a father, who has just lost his daughter is indescribable.
Before cricket, Asif used to work in an iron factory at a salary of five thousand only. When he started playing cricket, he was fired from his job. For several months, he played tape-ball cricket to make his ends meet.
“The first cheque I got from playing cricket was of 55 thousand rupees. I kept it under my pillow that night and bought a 125 motorcycle in the morning,” Asif recalls.
Remember the Name @AasifAli2018 .
Take a bow !!!
Hardwork pays off @TheRealPCBMedia @TheRealPCB @ICC @OfficialDGISPR @iamhumayunsaeed Kindly make a movie on Asif Ali and Harris Rauf's struggle too .
They are also our heroes .@HarisRauf14#PakvsAfg #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/heE224Lx5i— Neelam Aslam (@NeelamAofficial) October 30, 2021
The credit for including him in the team goes to former captain and coach Misbah-ul-Haq.
Misbah discovered Asif Ali in 2011 when he was leading the Faisalabad team during the Pakistan National Super Eight tournament and included Asif Ali into his team.
Misbah’s intuition about Asif was right and he scored a century in the same match. Asif dominated that T20 event and was included in Islamabad United in Pakistan Super League (PSL) afterwards.
Every player needs a stage to bring out the hidden ‘stardom’ inside him. Some are lucky enough to make it big on their first chance while other require patience. That being said, Asif Ali has proved his worth by showing patience and today, even International cricket stars like Ben Stokes and Alan Wilkins are admiring him.
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