Younis Khan backs ‘future star’ Haider Ali after consistent failures

Pakistan batting coach Younis Khan has backed youngster Haider Ali to succeed despite having a difficult time in the recently concluded T20I series against South Africa.

During the three innings in four matches against the Proteas, Haider managed scores of 14, 12 and three respectively.

Those performances extended Haider’s lean run in T20Is for the Men-in-Green where he only managed to score 124 runs in the last 10 innings at an average of just 12.4 with the highest score of 27.

Younis, while talking to the media in a virtual conference ahead of departing for the tour of Zimbabwe, backed the Peshawar Zalmi’s young batsman to come good in the near future.

"Haider is a future star and very much capable," he said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo. "His natural game is attacking, and I still remember he smacked a six off his very second ball on debut. I understand he has played a lot of games since then, and missed a few opportunities to grow, but we have to give him time [to grow into his role].

“He was opening in the previous series, and then, when he was playing in the PSL for his franchise, he put up some amazing performances lower down the order. Here too we tried to use him in that [middle-order] role. We have a responsibility as a coach but the players are growing into their roles, and they will make mistakes, otherwise you can't learn."