Abid Ali Set to Make Return to Test Cricket
By: Qasim Hussain
The vastly experienced Pakistani opener is set to make his return to tests against Sri Lanka this summer. This is a huge step forward for Abid as just four months ago he had to undergo an angioplasty after being diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome. This is big news for the Pakistan cricket team as Abid Ali is their best opening batsman and finding a replacement has been difficult. Though they do have the Abdullah Shafique who has an outstanding batting average of 68.37 there has been nobody to accompany him in his endeavors. Pakistan went through three openers in those four months and almost considered using a fourth. These three openers being Imran Butt, Shan Masood, and Imam Ul-Haq. However even with Abid coming back Pakistan will still be searching for a replacement as Abid (despite only making his debut three years ago) is already in his mid thirties and is nearing the end of his short career. Nevertheless his short career had been a one for the history books. So far Abid has scored four centuries and three half centuries with a batting average of 49.16 and a high score of 215 (not out) in his 16 tests, and one century and one half century with a batting average of 39.00 in his six ODIs. He is also the first Pakistani batsman ever to score a century on his test and ODI debuts.