Ali Khan has had an amazing journey through to the Caribbean Premier League.
Having made a name for himself by picking up seven wickets in his first four outings at a very fine economy rate of 7.57 for Trinbago Knight Riders, Pakistan born American fast bowler Ali Khan is delighted for putting up brilliant performances in the ongoing season of Caribbean Premier League and is surprised for he never expected these days would happen to him.
Ali was picked by the Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise on the back of his magnificent showing in the Global T20 Canada League in Toronto, where he picked up 10 wickets in 8 matches for the Winnipeg Hawks at an excellent strike rate of 16.9.
Even though Ali grew up playing in the cricket-mad Pakistan and wanted to play the game at the highest level, he had to move to the USA in 2010 and thought his best days in the sport were over.
In 2016 West Indian great Courtney Walsh was impressed by Ali’s raw pace and picked him in the 15-man ICC Americas squad, which is a combined developmental team from American region and took part in the West Indian domestic one-day competition.
In an interview given to Cricket Next, Ali said, “When I came to US, I started working for a cellular company. I thought cricket as a career was not an option for me anymore as I had never heard of USA playing cricket,"
“Living in US and playing cricket isn’t easy, if you’re working full time then you don't get enough time to practice as you only play games on the weekends,” he added.
Ali was actually picked by the Guyana Amazon Warriors in 2016 and he recalls getting the priceless scalp of legend Kumar Sangakkara. He then suffered an untimely injury though and still feels the pain of it.
“It was the first time that I had an injury and it was really tough." Ali revealed and said, "I was scared whether I would be able to play cricket again but I got a lot of help from the USA Cricket Board, our head coach Pubudu Dassanyke along with Tom Evans, and Wade Edwards helped me deal with the injury”
Ali also talked about his stint in GLT20 for Winnipeg Hawks under the guidance coach Waqar Younis and captain David Warner and said, “These kinds of tournaments are very helpful for associate cricketers as they provide an opportunity for us to showcase our talent to the world. Playing alongside all the big names and sharing dressing room with them helps a lot as we get to learn the skills that made them such successful cricketers,"
“Working with Waqar sir was very helpful as I have a similar action; he guided me a lot and also taught me how to reverse swing the ball and bowl the yorker more accurately. He also taught me how to deal with pressure in crunch situations.”
Ali's long-term ambition is to get a chance to play in the Indian Premier League and he is looking at CPL as a perfect platform to reach there.
“That's ultimate dream (playing IPL), I believe if I keep working hard and keep believing in myself then it can happen.” he said and concluded, “I want to thank Venky (Mysore) Sir (CEO TKR) and my captain Dwayne Bravo for showing faith in me. Every time I put on the TKR jersey, I give my 100% and my aim is to help the team win the championship.”