Azhar Ali recently retired from the 50-over format to focus more on the red-ball cricket where he has some scintillating numbers. However, recently he was in news for a comical run-out, which as per Azhar, has overshadowed his retirement news. Not only that, but his son also pulls his leg on that run-out.
"My run out has not only overshadowed my retirement news, my son, Ibtisam, teases me that there are more videos of my run out than footage of my triple hundred and double hundreds on the internet," Ali said in a chat with Firstpost.
Azhar wanted to stop his mind from distraction as he wasn't part of Pakistan ODI squad. "I did not want to clutter my mind with thoughts of making a comeback in the one-dayers and wanted to channel all my energy towards Test cricket. I have set aside a couple of goals for myself and this includes regaining my Test form. I also want the new opening pair of Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman to feel settled in the openers' role. Both of them are talented and have delivered the goods."
The 33-year-old last played an ODI match for Pakistan in January this year against New Zealand. Azhar has scored 5303 runs in 128 Test innings with an average of 44.19. The Pakistan batsman wants to better his average in future.
"One of my dreams is to improve upon my Test average from my current 44 to 50. My other ambition is to sign off with centuries against all Test playing nations," he said.
The Lahore-born has 14 Test hundreds with his name. Azhar, who started his cricketing journey with leg-spin, now aims to cross 10,000 Test runs.
"I still harbor ambitions of crossing 10,000 runs in Tests but with Pakistan not playing too many Test matches, it is a long shot. Another unfulfilled ambition is to play against India in Test matches.
"I do not know if it will happen during my Test career but I would love to experience the challenge. An India-Pakistan (match) is a battle of nerves and there is excitement. But there has not been any untoward incident between players during an India-Pakistan game. India's bowling attack has improved so much in recent times. In the past, the Indian bowling was one-dimensional, depending on just the spinners but now it boasts of a potent pace attack."
Ali picked Indian skipper Virat Kohli as the best Test batsman of the current time. He said, "Virat Kohli is my choice. A year back, I would have been surprised if he had made it as my most favorite Test batsman. But in last one year, he has scored Test runs everywhere — be it South Africa, England or at home."
Last year in ICC Champions Trophy 2017, Azhar had scored 228 runs with an average of 45.60 which included 3 50s in five innings.
"We had lost the opening game in the tournament against India but gradually everything fell in place. After that, we had wins against Sri Lanka, South Africa, and England. So we were high on confidence coming into the game against India. We had nothing to lose as no one had given us much of a chance when we started our campaign. When I came to open with Fakhar Zaman in the final, I wanted to bide time before going after the bowlers. Luckily the plan worked. Once I settled down, I played the attacking shots."
Azhar had scored a half-century in the final against India. But it didn't get much recognization.
(With Input of FirstPost)
