Hasan Ali: “This is the national team, it’s not a gali mohalla team. You only get picked if you perform, it’s not about friendships”
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Pakistan speedster Hasan Ali has made it clear that getting selected in the national team is based on performance and not on friendships.
His comments come after limited overs captain Babar Azam has repeatedly been accused of picking players who he is close friends with and ignoring others who have been performing consistently for a lengthy period of time.
However, Hasan reiterated that cricketers only get into the Pakistan team if they do well and not for any other reason.
“This is the national team, it’s not a gali mohalla team. You only get picked if you perform, it’s not about friendships,” he was quoted as saying by respected journalist Saj Sadiq on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Hasan did not represent Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup, where the men in green lost to the United States of America and India before bouncing back to take down Canada and Ireland.
Even though they ended the group stage with a 2-2 record, Pakistan failed to advance to the Super Eights.
Next up for Pakistan will be a two-Test series against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi and Karachi from August 21 to September 3.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal (subject to fitness), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi
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