Dream of mine to play under Mickey Arthur: Haider Ali joins Derbyshire

Pakistan's young batsman, Haider Ali, joins Derbyshire County Cricket Club for the upcoming County Championship 2023.

Haider has signed a season-long deal and is excited to work with former Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur, who will mentor him to play his natural aggressive game.

Hello there, @iamhaideraly 👋

Our young King has arrived at The Incora County Ground 🇵🇰👑#WeAreDerbyshire #WelcomeHaider pic.twitter.com/9ZzF4HlgFy

— Derbyshire CCC (@DerbyshireCCC) April 3, 2023

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The 22-year-old has expressed his eagerness to learn and improve under Arthur's guidance, who previously coached Pakistan from 2016 to 2019. 

“I’m very excited, it’s my first time playing county cricket and I love the coaching of Mickey Arthur,” he said.

“I think it’s difficult for anyone to play all formats, but I’m lucky to have the opportunity and I’m so excited to get started. It has been a dream of mine to play under Mickey, as soon as he called I said ‘I’m ready to play county cricket for Derbyshire.

“In Pakistan, our red ball cricket has completely different situations because it’s always hot weather, the pitches are not so good for seamers. In England, the pitches will be good for seam and swing.

“I’ve spoken to the coaches and they can help me, but I can still play my natural game. I like to attack the bowler, but every bowler is a good bowler in county cricket, so you need to choose bowlers to play your natural game against.

“In white ball cricket, I can play to the team requirements. If I need to be aggressive, I can do that, but if I need to bat 15-20 overs, I can do that too. I’m really excited to experience the Derbyshire crowd.”

The team is thrilled to have him on board and Haider is all set to make his debut for Derbyshire against Worcestershire in the County Championship on Thursday.

It's worth noting that Haider Ali was a member of the Pakistan team that came in second place in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022. He played in 33 T20Is and two ODIs for Pakistan.