Asif Ali (born 1 October 1991) is a Pakistani

cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

playing for the

Pakistan national cricket team The Pakistan men's national cricket team represents Pakistan in international cricket. It is controlled by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the governing body for cricket in Pakistan, which is a Full Member of the International Cricket Counc ...

. In

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

, Asif represents Northern, and he plays for

Lahore Qalandars Lahore Qalandars is a Pakistani professional cricket franchise which plays in the Pakistan Super League, representing Lahore, the capital of Punjab. They are the current champions of the PSL and the most successful team in the tournament's hist ...

in the

Pakistan Super League The Pakistan Super League (PSL), also known as HBL PSL for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Pakistan, organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Founded by the PCB in 2015, the league features six city-bas ...

. He is one of thirty-three players to be awarded a central contract for the 2018–19 season by the

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), formerly known as Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP), is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan ...

(PCB).

Early life

Asif was born on 1 October 1991, in

Faisalabad Faisalabad, formerly known as Lyallpur, is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, second-largest city and primary List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, industrial center of the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan ...

, Pakistan Before going into professional cricket, he used to work as a labourer in an

iron foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

Domestic and T20 franchise career

Misbah-ul-Haq Misbah-ul-Haq Pride of Performance, PP Sitara-e-Imtiaz, SI (; born 28 May 1974) is a former Pakistani cricket coach and former international cricketer. Misbah captained Pakistan national cricket team, Pakistan in all formats and is former head ...

has played an instrumental role in his development as a cricketer and initially picked him as a power-hitter in the 2011 Super 8 Twenty20 Cup when he was a captain of the Faisalabad cricket team. He was the leading run-scorer for Faisalabad in the

2017–18 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy The 2017–18 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy was the 60th edition of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan's domestic first-class cricket competition. It was contested by 16 teams representing eight regional associations and eight departments, and took place ...

, with 369 runs in six matches. He also played in the 2017 Everest Premier league for Pokhara Rhinos. In April 2018, he was named in

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

's squad for the

2018 Pakistan Cup The 2018 Pakistan Cup was the third edition of the Pakistan Cup, a List A cricket competition which was contested between five teams. It was held from 25 April to 6 May 2018, with all the matches played at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad. Feder ...

. He scored the most runs for Punjab during the tournament, with 328 runs in four matches. On 3 June 2018, he was selected to play for the Edmonton Royals in the players' draft for the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada tournament. In October 2018, he was named in

Cape Town Blitz Cape Town Blitz were a franchise team of the South African Mzansi Super League (MSL) Twenty20 cricket tournament. The team was based at the Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town. Cape Town Blitz played in the first two editions of the MLS in 20 ...

's squad for the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

of the

Mzansi Super League The Mzansi Super League (MSL) was a Twenty20 cricket (T20) franchise league held in South Africa. The competition was established in 2018 by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as a replacement for the failed T20 Global League, but only two editions wer ...

T20 tournament. In March 2019, he was named in

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

's squad for the

2019 Pakistan Cup The 2019 Pakistan Cup was the fourth edition of the Pakistan Cup, a List A cricket competition which was contested between five teams. It was held from 2 to 12 April 2019, with all the matches played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The Pakis ...

. In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the

team for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament. In September 2019, he was named in Northern's squad for the

2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy The 2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy was a first-class domestic cricket competition that took place in Pakistan from 14 September to 31 December 2019. Habib Bank Limited were the defending champions. However, after the new domestic structure was ...

tournament. In November 2019, he was selected to play for the Dhaka Platoon in the 2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League. In July 2020, he was named in the Jamaica Tallawahs squad for the

2020 Caribbean Premier League The 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPLT20) or for sponsorship reasons, Hero CPL 2020 was the eighth season of the Caribbean Premier League, the domestic Twenty20 cricket league played in the West Indies. All matches were played in Trinidad and ...

. In October 2020, he was drafted by the Jaffna Stallions for the inaugural edition of the

Lanka Premier League The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; , ) is a professional franchise cricket league established in 2020 in Sri Lanka. Matches are played using the Twenty20 cricket format by five teams named after Sri Lankan cities. The league was int ...

. In January 2021, he was named in Northern's squad for the

2020–21 Pakistan Cup The 2020–21 Pakistan Cup was a List A cricket competition that took place in Karachi, Pakistan from 8 January to 31 January 2021. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were the defending champions after they beat Baluchistan. However, after the new domestic stru ...

. He was picked by St Kitts & Nevis Patriots for CPL 2021. In December 2021, he was signed by

Islamabad United Islamabad United () is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team that competes in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team is based in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, and was formed in 2015 to compete in the first ...

following the players' draft for the

2022 Pakistan Super League 2022 Pakistan Super League (referred to as HBL PSL 7 for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh season of the Pakistan Super League, a franchise Twenty20 cricket league which was established by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in 2015. The tournam ...

. In July 2022, he was signed by the

Colombo Stars Colombo Strikers, formerly known as Colombo Stars and Colombo Kings, is a franchise Twenty20 cricket team based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, that competes in the Lanka Premier League. Thisara Perera is the captain of this franchise while Carl Crowe ...

for the third edition of the

. In August 2022, he was signed by the Hobart Hurricanes for BBL 12.

International career

In Mar 2018, he was named in Pakistan's

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) squad for their series against the West Indies. He made his T20I debut for Pakistan against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

on 1 April 2018. He made his ODI debut for Pakistan against

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

on 13 July 2018. In May 2019, he was named in Pakistan's squad for the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament was hosted bet ...

, after the

(PCB) named their final fifteen-man squad for the tournament. Ali struggled to make an impact in the first three years of his international career, and was often sidelined from the team.

2021 ICC T20 World Cup

In September 2021, he was named in Pakistan's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, a Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The tournament was hosted by Unit ...

. His selection was criticized by many people including ex-cricketers but he proved his selection right by scoring crucial runs against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. He won the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

award for scoring unbeaten 25 off 7 balls against

. Asif Ali won the Player of the Month award in November 2021 for his match-winning performances for Pakistan during the T20 World Cup.

Asia Cup 2022

He was named in the Pakistan's squad for the Asia Cup 2022. On September 8, 2022, he was fined 25% of match fees for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the match against

after he got involved in a heated exchange with Afghanistan's bowler Fareed Ahmad.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ali, Asif 1991 births Living people Cricketers from Faisalabad Pakistan One Day International cricketers Pakistan Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Pakistani sportsmen Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup Cape Town Blitz cricketers Pakistani expatriate cricketers in South Africa Dhaka Dominators cricketers Pakistani expatriate cricketers in Bangladesh Faisalabad cricketers Faisalabad Wolves cricketers Hobart Hurricanes cricketers Pakistani expatriate cricketers in Australia Islamabad cricketers Islamabad United cricketers Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers Punjab (Pakistan) cricketers Rawalpindi cricketers Sindh cricketers St Kitts and Nevis Patriots cricketers Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited cricketers United Bank Limited cricketers Cricketers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games cricketers for Pakistan