Recently, a 34-year old Nauman Ali made his debut for the Pakistan’s Test team. He is a left-arm orthodox spinner with shades of Pragyan Ojha and Sri Lankan Rangana Herath. On Friday, he picked up five wickets to bundle South Africa out for 245 runs in the second innings. Nauman Ali comes from Khipro, a subdivision of the Sanghar division in Pakistan's southern Sindh province. He is one of the few players who have made it to the big stage even after coming from a rural area in Pakistan. Khipro is a rural area in Pakistan and it wasn’t easy for Nauman to travel to a big city as he comes from a modest background. It has been a long journey for the 34-year old started playing cricket under the guidance of his uncle, Rizwan Ahmed, who was a Pakistani cricketer.
In an interview with the PCB, Nauman remembered a fun incident that had occurred when he had gone to watch a PIA game in which his uncle, Rizwan was also playing. He could not enter the ground through the main gate and had to scale the walls. He recollects his uncle playing that match alongside ‘nine Pakistan cricket’s legends’. In the same interview, Nauman said that cricket is everything for him. His passion, his hobby! He gave many years to the sport and played first class cricket for almost 11-12 years, but the last three years were good for him and thus, he got a call for the Test series against South Africa.
He feels that he has already benefited under the guidance of the coaches in the International side. Nauman is confident of playing for Pakistan for a long time. "If they (team management) show confidence I am ready to deliver anywhere not only in home series,” he said. Nauman’s is one classic ‘Rags to Riches’ story. He looks promising with the five wickets he picked against Australia.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has consolidated their position in the first Test match and only required 66 more runs to win with all the ten wickets in hand at Lunch on Day 4. Courtesy of five wickets by Nauman Ali and four by Yasir Shah, the two spinners.