Umar Gul: “I’m not too worried about Hasan Ali’s current form as all bowlers go through ups and downs in their careers”

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Pakistan pace bowler Umar Gul has insisted that he is not concerned about seamer Hasan Ali’s lack of wickets this year.

In 2017, Hasan was the highest wicket-taker in ODIs as he took 45 wickets in 18 matches at an average of 17.04. As a result of this, he won the ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year award.

However, this year, Hasan has not been able to replicate his success with the ball as he has claimed 19 wickets in 15 ODIs at an average of 34.

When asked about his thoughts on the matter, Gul told PakPassion: “I’m not too worried about Hasan Ali’s current form as all bowlers go through ups and downs in their careers.

“Sometimes a loss of form can be down to fatigue and too much cricket and mentally and physically you become tired due to playing continuously. I’m not overly concerned about Hasan as I believe he is a very capable bowler.

“What can happen is that when you are new to international cricket, opposition teams do not know too much about you and you have that surprise element, but after a while the opposition become familiar with your bowling and that can cause issues as they are then wary of your strengths and weaknesses as a bowler.

“Then as a bowler you need to come up with some different plans and some new ideas and that is probably what Hasan will have to do.”