Dubai: Abid Ali, who cracked a century on debut in Pakistan’s splendid chase against Australia in the fourth match of the series, dedicated his ton to his daughter and his family.
An emotional Ali, who had to wait till the age of 31 to earn an international debut, utilised his first chance and cracked 112 off 119 balls with nine boundaries to become only the third Pakistan batsman to score a century on ODI debut, said: “I would like to dedicate this century to my daughter, and to my family. I wanted to give my 100 per cent when I got a chance. My family kept asking me if I was playing and I had to say no. They gave me a lot of confidence, my father, mother, wife, daughter. They all told me to be cool and confident and that Almighty would reward me.”
Ali had played in 102 first-class matches and scored over 13,000 runs and had also sparkled consistently in Pakistan Super League for Islamabad United team. He wasn’t aware until a few hours before the match that he will be making his debut. “I found that I will make my debut only in the morning as Imam-ul-Haq had a fever. I just needed a door to open for me in terms of an opportunity to play for Pakistan and the Almighty opened that path for me,” said Ali, who has also become the 15th batsman in the world to score a century on ODI debut.
Ali is disappointed that his century went in vain as Pakistan lost the match by six runs. “I would have been much happier if my team had won the game. When Umar Akmal and Saad Ali lost their wickets is when things got a little difficult as this was a time when we needed a run a ball. We were playing big shots but it’s a little disappointing that we did not finish the job.”
