United States of America is widely regarded as the home of the greatest baseball players in the world. But dashing speedster Ali Khan is forcing the world to look beyond baseball and into the country’s fast-evolving cricketing culture.
And tournaments like the Abu Dhabi T10 are a perfect platform for the pacer to showcase his might and give a glimpse of what the USA cricketers are capable of.
“It (Abu Dhabi T10) is a very important tournament because I see myself as the face of cricket in the USA. Whenever I go to such big tournaments, I put the USA on the map and that’s just a small picture of what we have back home,” claimed the speedster.
The torchbearer for cricket in the USA, the 30-year-old Ali Khan believes that his performances on the global stage will open up doors for more cricketers from his country.
“There’s a big talent pool back home which needs opportunities to showcase the talent and in the coming days more guys will get the opportunity as well,” he said confidently.
The yorker specialist has only started to represent the USA recently, but has quickly become an inspiration for many Americans through his exploits in T20 leagues across the world.
Carrying the hopes of hundreds of thousands of aspiring cricketers can be an added weight on anyone’s shoulder, but Ali Khan says the global exposure has matured him as a cricketer and he does not let the pressure take the best of him.
“In my early days I felt some pressure because I was from the States and I was playing with all the big players but that’s how to learn the game,” Ali Khan said.
“Playing with all these legends and coaches, you develop the mental strength as well. I don’t take the pressure anymore, I just enjoy it and perform the best I can.”
The right-arm quick is certainly performing to the best of his abilities in the 2020 ADT10 while playing for the Delhi Bulls. He has been turning the heat on the batsmen with incisive bowling and has already bagged seven wickets this season so far.
Ali Khan wishes to help his national team qualify for the T20 World Cup in the future but for now, he wants to settle for nothing less than The Abu Dhabi T10 trophy.
“My only goal is to have my team win the title,” he signed off.
