Pakistani batter Ahsan Ali has stated that he regards Indian opener, Rohit Sharma as his idol and that he would want to replicate his international form for his country. Ali has been given a maiden T20I call-up for the upcoming series against Bangladesh, and Ali is eager to leave an impression and reach the level of consistency that Rohit has managed to.
“Rohit Sharma is my favourite cricketer and I want to emulate his performances as an opener. I want to make a big impression on my debut,” Cricketpakistan.com.pk quoted Ali as saying.
Aside from Ali, Haris Rauf and Amad Ali have also been given a call-up to the national T20I side for the series against the Bengal Tigers, while Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez have been recalled to the side.
The 26-year old Ali added that it will be a dream come true to play for the Pakistan team in front of his home crowd. “Bangladesh is a tough opposition and it will be a competitive series against them. Every cricketer dreams to play in front of his home crowd. I hope crowd comes in big numbers and support us,” he said.
However, Ali added that he will go into the series high on confidence. “I am not under any pressure since I have already played pressure games in the Pakistan Super League,” he added.
Pakistan will play three T20 Internationals, a sole ODI and two Test matches against Bangladesh, The T20Is will be held in Lahore from January 23, with the other two games being held on January 25 and January 27.
The first Test will commence from February 7 in Rawalpindi, with the lone ODI being held in Karachi.
Recently, Pakistan’s Hafeez had stated that he would retire from international cricket after the upcoming T20 World Cup that will be held in Australia from October.
