ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s talented young batsman Haider Ali says legendary South African cricketer Hashim Amla’s guidance proved a real motivation for his performance in the fifth edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) staged in the country earlier this year.

Haider, who played for Peshawar Zalmi during PSL, has opened up on the pep talk he received from Amla, who was serving as the team’s batting mentor, which helped him succeed in the tournament.

The right-handed batsman scored 239 runs in nine innings at an average of 29.87 and a fine strike-rate of 158.27.

“I have never seen a better person than Hashim Amla in my life because of the way he motivates a player,” said Haider while speaking on BSports Pakistan’s YouTube channel as quoted by cricketpakistan.com.pk.

“I could not perform well in my first PSL match against Karachi Kings which is why I was very upset. Later that night, Hashim bhai got in touch with me and asked about my room number. He wanted to motivate me as I was very depressed.”

Haider continued, “He [Amla] could have asked me to come to his room but, despite being a legendary player, he was the one who wanted to come and visit me which was very surprising [for me]. However, instead of him coming to my room, I went to his. The guidance I received that night really helped me perform better in the tournament.”

The 19-year-old also recalled his verbal spat with pacer Haris Rauf during Zalmi’s match against Lahore Qalandars.

“Shoaib bhai had asked me to keep a lid on the big shots because it was not required during that phase of the game. Soon after that advice, I did not opt for a shot against Haris but he asked me to use the bat in my hands to play shots instead of leaving the ball. He stared at me and acted in an aggressive manner,” Haider recalled.

“After that Shoaib bhai came to me again and asked me to smack the ball out of the park no matter where he bowls the next ball and this is exactly what I did,” he added. “I also told Haris to go fetch the ball, by using my bat, after playing that shot,” Haider remarked.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2020