Pacer Hasan Ali's peach to pin George Munsey

T20 is an innovative version of cricket, but the need to stick to the basics holds its own importance. It’s somewhat a batsman’s game and bowlers mostly end up at the receiving end. Hasan Ali isn’t intimidating in stature, but he does the basics right, a reason why he is a tough prospect to handle in the shortest format of the sport. 23 wickets in 17 matches are manifestations of the fact that batsmen find it difficult against him.

In Pakistan’s erstwhile match versus Scotland, he chipped in with a couple of wickets, one of which was George Munsey’s, the scalp which pulled the Men in Green out of a precarious position. It was a back-of-a-length ball, which pitched a tad outside the leg-stump. Munsey, with a score of 25 runs, including two fours and a six, was used to the tricks of the track and somewhat got the measure of Pakistan’s bowling.

Innocuous, yet effective

He was expected to counter the delivery without much fuss. The ball had different ideas. It shaped a wee bit after hitting the deck. Munsey was unsure about the way to tackle the delivery. He couldn’t make up his mind about whether to come on the front-foot or go on the back-foot, he did none. The left-hander was caught in the crease and he tentatively poked at the delivery, more in hope than conviction.

The ball didn’t move prodigiously, but enough to gently kiss the willow’s outside edge. Munsey immediately knew he nicked the delivery and looked back, only to see the leather nestle into Sarfraz Ahmed’s webbings. Hasan erupted in his trademark celebration style. The wicket came at a time when the Scotts cantered along at 53-1 in five in a quest to chase down a mammoth target of 205.

The hosts’ momentum was definitely broken as they lost wickets at regular intervals thereafter. They were reduced to 107-5 in 15.1 after which the task to overhaul Pakistan’s score turned out to be a far cry for Kyle Coetzer’s men. Meanwhile, Ali also managed to pick up the wicket of Matthew Cross in his final over.

Here is the video

Hasan … 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/WpRmcnbyuM

— Taimoor Zaman (@taimoorze) June 12, 2018

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