KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board’s idea of providing ten under-19 players early exposure in a top-level domestic competition during the impeding Pakistan Cup at Faisalabad is a move in the direction.

Among the youngsters to be picked is the budding Karachi all-rounder Hasan Mohsin. Having celebrated his 18th birthday on the 11th of January this year, Hasan was arguably one of the stars of the ICC Under-19 World Cup, held in Bangladesh in January and February.

Under the guidance of Azam Khan, the renowned cricket talent scout of the city who had been credited with the early development of a host of past and current Pakistan players, Hasan is among the latest entrants in this list.

Now on the threshold of List A (one-day) debut for the Sarfraz Ahmed-led Sindh team — since the PCB has made it mandatory that at least one member of the playing XI must be an Under-19 player — during the upcoming tournament, Hasan is anxious to prove his worth in big time cricket.

While talking to Dawn in an exclusive interview on Sunday, Hasan sounded confident of justifying his selection after being initially overlooked when the board named just five U-19 players in the original 15-man squads.

“I was obviously disappointed when my name was missing from the original list, considering my performance during the Under-19 World Cup. But having said that, the opportunity that we youngsters will be getting is something all of us should be grateful,” Hasan said. “Playing with and against big names of Pakistan cricket at this stage of our career would make us better cricketers than we are now.

“I for one would have never imagined sharing the same dressing room with my heroes so soon. This experience will definitely improve our skills.”

Youngest among five children in his family, Hasan, currently a student of commerce at the Government Jinnah College said his parents always wanted him to take up cricket as a profession.

“When I was growing up my father was a great source of inspiration particularly when I started playing cricket with the children of my age in our locality,” he emphasized. “The words of encouragement from my father at every step boosted me so much that I never worried about anything else as long as I didn’t neglect my studies.”

Initially a leg-spinning all-rounder, Hasan was cajoled into taking up pace bowling by former first-class player Mohammad Masroor, who was Pakistan’s head coach at the Under-19 World Cup after guiding Karachi to the U-19 national title last season.

“Masroor has been the biggest influence during my development as a cricketer. During one of the training sessions last year, he advised me that I should start bowling fast instead of leg-spin,” he revealed. “That is the best advice anyone has given to me so far. I rate Masroor as the best coach we have at the junior level. His presence makes one feels confident because of his easy-going nature.

“I’ll credit Masroor for my becoming an all-round player. And this goes for other players who were at the Under-19 World Cup and all of them respect him as an elder brother.”

Hasan had an outstanding World Cup where he was the fourth highest run-getter among all teams with 293 at 97.66. Against Nepal, he scored 117 and took 4-42 in a grand all-round effort.

With the ball, Hasan grabbed 11 wickets at 14.81 and was Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker along with leg-spinner Shadab Khan who also bagged 11 victims.

“It was a thrilling experience for me to be playing in the World Cup. Like most youngsters, I was nervous before the tournament started. Masroor eased those butterflies by encouraging us to enjoy the global experience,” Hasan recalled. “Meeting opposing players was another highlight for me. I was very impressed by [England opener] Jack Burnham [tournament’s highest run-maker with 420], India’s Sarfaraz Khan who looks a well-organised batsman as well as [Sri Lankan captain] Charith Asalanka.”

Hasan’s best mate is Umair Masood, the wicket-keeper/batsman who was the only player to score a century at the World Cup — 113 in the quarter-final defeat against eventual champions World Cup.

“Umair and I have a great understanding. The reason is both of us bat in the middle order and have had a number of good partnerships together,” Hasan explains. “I like his attitude because he’s a good player.”

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2016