BIRMINGHAM
\nPakistan\u2019s pace ace Hasan Ali wreaked havoc and recorded his name into the history books with a scintillating performance for the Birmingham Bears.
\nIn just his second appearance of the 2025 T20 Blast, the right-arm fast bowler ripped through Derbyshire Falcons with career-best T20 figures of 6 for 23 \u2014 the best bowling return ever by a Bears bowler in the history of the tournament \u2014 leading his team to a thumping win and turning Edgbaston into a carnival of cricket and celebration.
\nThe highlight of the evening was a dramatic hat-trick, Hasan\u2019s first in T20s, which sent the stadium into a frenzy. Speaking to Geo News at the end of the match Hasan recalled the moments just before he completed the hat-trick.
\n\u201cActually, there was a plan,\u201d he revealed. \u201cI spoke with Tom Latham (New Zealand Test captain) after my second wicket. We spotted the batsman standing deep on the leg side, and I said I\u2019d go for the yorker. I did, and it worked. And after that, I just ran away like a burnt angel and did my celebrations. I think at the end of the day it\u2019s all about the fans. We are playing for the fans and, it won\u2019t be wrong if I say my fiver is for those fans\u201d.
\nHasan\u2019s infectious energy and trademark celebration, arms outstretched and a roaring sprint, lit up the stadium and brought smiles across hundreds of Bears\u2019 fans present on the ground.
\n\u201cI think, my celebration is something which pumps up the crowd and gives them energy too. Obviously, we are playing for the crowds, and, I feel like we are entertainers. We entertain with our skills and with our attitude. We entertain people with even the celebrations\u201d.
\n\u201cSo I\u2019m one of those who love to do a celebration for the crowd and, obviously, for the team as well. And, the team loves to see my celebration, and I\u2019m very happy to be able to edit a couple of times today\u201d, he added further.
\nHasan is not the first Bear\u2019s player to get a hat-trick, before him South African leg spinner Imran Tahir also achieved this feat. He too had a distinctive style of celebration. Which in Hasan\u2019s opinion is unmatchable.
\n\u201cI can never match Imran Tahir\u2019s celebration\u2014he runs miles!\u201d he laughed. \u201cBut for me, cricket is about entertainment. The crowd gives us energy, and we give it back. That\u2019s our job.\u201d
\n\u201cWe entertain with our skills and with our attitude. We entertain people with even the celebrations. We know T20 is all about entertainment even \u2018The Bazball\u2019 in Test cricket is all about entertainment now. And it\u2019s not only the cricket, whether you\u2019re playing football or any other game people love, they come to watch you and to be entertained\u201d.
\nThe 30-year-old has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence in recent months. After impressing in the Pakistan Super League where he finished among the top wicket-taker of the tournament for Karachi Kings, that earned him a recall to the national T20 side for the series against Bangladesh.
\nNow, with his show-stopping performance for the Bears, he\u2019s proving why he remains a world-class threat in white-ball cricket.
\n\u201cThis is my third T20 five-for,\u201d Hasan said. \u201cHonestly, I didn\u2019t know it was a record for the Bears, but I\u2019ve been lucky and blessed to perform when it\u2019s needed most.\u201d
\nWith two wins now under their belt after a rocky start to the campaign, the Bears are clawing their way back into contention. \u201cWe lost our first two games, but now we\u2019re building momentum,\u201d said Hasan. \u201cWe\u2019re aiming for the knockout stage this time \u2013 and Inshallah, try to win the trophy.\u201d
\nBeyond the numbers and the celebrations, Hasan also offered insight into the demanding lifestyle of a modern-day cricketer. Having gone from Pakistan\u2019s domestic T20s to the PSL, then national duties, and now the Blast \u2014 all within two months \u2014 he acknowledges the grind, but embraces it.
\n\u201cThe life of an international cricketer is very demanding. You finish one tournament and the next day you\u2019re on a plane and off somewhere else to play. But if you eat well, sleep well, and stay disciplined, your body adjusts,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is what professional cricket demands. Most people would think that is exhausting, but I think, as a professional, this is life..\u201d
\nHe referenced Zimbabwe\u2019s Sikandar Raza, who recently flew from England to Pakistan just hours before the PSL final and still delivered a match-winning performance.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s the life now,\u201d Hasan said. \u201cYou\u2019re always on the move, but you stay focused. So as a professional, we have to adapt to these things, we have to be very disciplined and we have to take care of our body really well.\u201d
\nLooking ahead, the Bears face Northamptonshire Steelbacks next\u2014where Hasan will cross paths with a familiar face, his former Karachi Kings coach, Ravi Bopara. \u201cIt\u2019ll be fun playing against him,\u201d he smiled. \u201cThe squad\u2019s confident after two wins, and we\u2019re ready.\u201d
\nAnd while records and results may define careers, for Hasan, it\u2019s the fans who remain front and centre.
\n\u201cAt the end of the day, we play for the people. So this fifer, this hat-trick\u2014it\u2019s for them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BIRMINGHAM Pakistan\u2019s pace ace Hasan Ali wreaked havoc and recorded his name into the history books with a scintillating performance for the Birmingham Bears. In just his second appearance of the 2025 T20 Blast, the right-arm fast bowler ripped through Derbyshire Falcons with career-best T20 figures of 6 for 23 \u2014 the best bowling return …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":82170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82211,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82202\/revisions\/82211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}