I've been chatting to the very amicable Karachi based all rounder Anwar Ali who of course plays for PIA

Anwar of course was one of the stars of the Under 19 World Cup in 2006 and has been on the fringes of the Pakistan team having only been given one opportunity at international level against Zimbabwe in a Twenty/20 fixture last year.

I asked Anwar about the name that is on the lips of most Pakistani cricket fans today and that is Shahzaib Hasan.

Anwar stated that "Shahzaib has played club cricket in the Karachi area for a few years but has only just started playing first class cricket in the past year or so". "Its his first season at first class level" confirmed Anwar.

He added that "he thinks Shahzaib is definitely a twenty/20 specialist at the moment and really likes to hit the ball hard from ball one". Anwar said that "Shahzaib is a tricky customer to bowl to as you can never tell what he is planning to do with the next delivery. He can be very unorthodox and difficult to bowl to".

I asked Anwar about what type of player Shahzaib was and what his strengths were. Anwar mentioned that "he's a good all round batsman, comfortable on the front foot and the back foot and certainly not afraid to come down the track even to the quick bowlers".

Also just to mention that Anwar has signed a contract for Lancashire League club Colne for this season but there have been delays regarding his passport. Once the red tape has been sorted and he gets his passport cleared then he'll be straight over to England.