2017 Champions Trophy player of the tournament, Hasan Ali, has come out attacking Pakistan Cricket Board management over the preferential treatment given to him during his injury and giving VVIP treatment to young opener Saim Ayub.
While Ayub, who was injured while playing against South Africa in January, underwent an operation in England and is recovering, Ali spent more than 16 months in rehabilitation in 2020 and has questioned the partial attitude of PCB against players.
“Saim Ayub is injured. He is a player of Pakistan team. I was not a player of the Pakistan team in 2020. If any other Pakistani player gets injured, he is not part of the team? Does he play for India? They are giving VVIP treatment to Saim Ayub. If anybody else gets injured, will they do the same for him? May god give good health to Saim. But when he gets injured again, will he get the same treatment? They will not give. We have to rectify this,” Hasan Ali told the podcast Ultra Edge.
The pacer, who was the player of the tournament in the 2017 Champions Trophy, had suffered a back injury in 2019, followed by a stress fracture in the ribs and subsequent elevated disc injury leading to an operation and sidelining him for more than 16 months in the following years. Ali then made a return to the Pakistan team during the Test series against South Africa at home in January 2021. Since then, he has played in 15 Test matches, 13 ODIs and 21 T20Is for Pakistan but missed out on a spot in the Pakistan team for the Champions Trophy. “The most painful thing during the injury was that my physio was changed every month. When our national team physio used to work with me some days, it would be okay, but when I would return to NCA, the story would be the same. This is for the whole 16 months and not for one month or two months. Whenever I used to recover, my physios would be changed, and it would be back to where I was. I did not know whether it was a slipped disc and was told it was a spasm initially. And then the stress fracture to the ribs happened, which worsened the problem,” remembered Ali.
The 30-year-old cricketer, who has played in 24 Tests, 66 ODIs and 51 T20I for Pakistan till present, believes that Pakistan cricket needs stability in terms of players as well coaches, referring to former Indian coach Rahul Dravid as the perfect example to follow.
“There is a lack of stability. I have seen many players in my eight years of international career who get out of the team without playing a single game. A team takes 3-4 years to build, and then after 8-9 years, the players have their downs too. But then one has to be sure about the plans. The biggest example is former Indian coach Rahul Dravid. India lost the ODI World Cup at home. They played fantastic till the final. And Rahul Dravid said goodbye after they won the T20 World Cup. In Pakistan, we remove coaches or players before the World Cup. Do we call this stability,” said Ali.
