Anwar Ali, a Pakistani all-rounder who has been forgotten for a long time, made a great start to the English county List-A season with a fifty for Gloucestershire. When Anwar came in at number nine, he made 61 runs off 56 balls. During his innings, he hit two balls over the fence and three balls to the edge of the field. On the eighth wicket, he and Graeme van Buuren added 104 runs, which helped Gloucestershire beat Northamptonshire by 278 runs at Cheltenham on Friday.
Anwar Ali makes a remarkable debut in the English county
This is the first time Anwar has ever played for a county team in England, no matter what kind of game it was. The 35-year-old all-rounder has played for Pakistan in 22 ODIs and 16 T20Is. He was once called the best all-rounder in the country. 2016 was the last time he played for his country.
Anwar said he was giving up first-class cricket in 2021 to focus on white-ball cricket. The cricket player told Geo News that he made up his mind after the third round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and told the team management. He denied that the choice was made because of a scheduling conflict with Abu Dhabi T10 Leagues.
“I think the time has come to vacate the place for some youngster to excel in first-class cricket. There are many knocking the doors for an opportunity in Sindh’s first XI side. I believe it is important to give them an opportunity,” Anwar said.
“My retirement has nothing to do with my contracts with leagues. This is not the first time, I’ve been playing both — leagues and domestic cricket. There was no change in my mindset regarding that. I was thinking about it for the last few days,” he said.