Pakistan fast bowler Hasan Ali opened up about the lowest point of his career – the infamous misfield in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2021 against Australia. Pakistan lost to the Aussies by five wickets in the semi-final after nearly dominating the entire game. In what turned out to be the final over of the nail-biting match, Ali dropped an easy catch of Australian wicketkeeper-batter Matthew Wade, off Shaheen Afridi’s over. After being given a lifeline, Wade smoked three sixes in as many balls to win the match for his team.
Ali, who was the star of Pakistan’s campaign in the 2017 Champions Trophy, where he emerged as the leading wicket-taker, became the national villain following his dropped catch in the 2021 marquee event. Now, after nearly two months, Hasan revealed that Wade’s dropped catch was the ‘toughest moment’ of his career and he was not able to sleep for the next couple of days after the semi-final.
“It was the toughest moment of my career so far and it is very difficult to forget these things quickly. Of course, as a professional, you have to move on. Honestly, I haven’t revealed this to anyone until now but I didn’t sleep for two days. My wife was with me and she was tense as I was not sleeping,” the Indian Express cited Ali’s quote to Cricket Pakistan.The pacer further revealed that the dropped catch kept constantly appearing in his mind, however, something changed in him during the tour to Bangladesh, where he told himself that he should move on. The 27-year-old reckoned that he received good support from the team and especially Shoaib Malik who instilled confidence in him by calling him a ‘tiger’.
Ali also disclosed how both he and Afridi, along with the rest of his teammates had a tough time dealing with the outcome of the match. After the match, I was crying and so was Shaheen (Afridi), it was an extremely sad moment,” he added. He also thanked the fans on social media for their support, which helped him ease through the pain.
Pakistan’s juggernaut of five consecutive wins on the trot came to an end, while Australia went on to win their maiden T20 World Cup after that crucial semi-final game. Meanwhile, Ali is currently plying his trade for Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2022, he has picked three wickets from the first two games in this season thus far.
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