<strong><a href="http://dailythepatriot.com/wp-content/uploads/Anwar-Ali.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-19869" src="http://dailythepatriot.com/wp-content/uploads/Anwar-Ali.jpg" alt="Anwar Ali" width="800" height="480" /></a></strong> <p style="color: #252525;">Pakistan all-rounder Anwar Ali, who once ironed socks for a living as a teenage factory labourer, may have finally found his feet in international cricket after years of unfulfilled promise.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">Ali smashed a 17-ball 46 with four towering sixes and three fours to help Pakistan clinch a last-gasp over win in the second Twenty20 against Sri Lanka in Colombo in their recently concluded tour, prompting fans to hail him as the second coming of talismanic all-rounder Shahid Afridi.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">“I am thankful to Almighty who helped me reach this point,” Ali, 27, told AFP.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">“My life was once very tough as I used to work in a sock-making factory but I clung to the dream of playing for Pakistan.”</p> <p style="color: #252525;">Ali migrated as a child from the small village of Zaka Khel in the militancy-wracked Swat Valley that is also home to Nobel peace prize-winning activist Malala Yousafzai.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">His family was amongst those who left after extremists began a campaign to rule the valley under their harsh interpretation of Sharia law.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">The family made their base in a rundown industrial area of Karachi, where Ali, who lost his father when he was still young, began working as a child labourer for a meagre 150 rupees ($1.50 in current terms) per day.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">“Those were very tough days, we came to Karachi in search of peace and safety and as one of the boys of the family I was required to earn and not play,” said the broad-built Ali.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">While on the way to the factory, Ali would watch boys play in the street, spurring his dreams of one day making it to the national stage.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">“I requested my boss to put me in the night shift so that I could play cricket in the day and he very kindly obliged,” recalled Ali.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">Ali got his lucky break when he was spotted by local coach Azam Khan, who he now calls his mentor and guide.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">“I found him enormously talented and asked him to come for the trials,” recalled Khan.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">“Initially he excused himself because he would have lost his daily wages in case the trials ran later than scheduled. So, I promised to pay him the 150 rupees if he comes.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">“The next day he came and he conquered the trials and everyone was amazed at his bowling,” said Khan.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">“But... I couldn't keep paying him. Luckily Ali got a job in the Karachi Electric team and from there he never looked back.”</p> <p style="color: #252525;">Ali said: “My late father was against my playing cricket but his opinion changed once I made my mark and started earning from it.”</p> <h4 style="color: #222222;">Promising start</h4> <p style="color: #252525;">Ali was later picked for the Pakistan Under-19 team which won the Junior World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2006.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">It was his banana-swing bowling which turned the tables on arch-rivals India in the final at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">Defending a paltry target 109, Ali made the ball turn corners as he finished with figures 5-35, shooting India out for 71.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">His victims included Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindar Jadeja -- all of whom have made their mark for India in international cricket.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">Two years later Ali made an inauspicious international senior debut, in a Twenty20 match against Zimbabwe in Canada. Figures of 0-19 in two overs meant he was instantly discarded from the team which had Abdul Razzaq as its main all-rounder.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">Cast into the wilderness for the next five years, he made it his goal to lift his family from poverty and build them a modest house.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">He set about playing in England's Lancashire league and all but gave up on his international goals. But finally, his hard work paid off.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">“I worked on my bowling, on my batting and, above all, my fielding and that brought me back in the Pakistan team in 2013,” he said.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">Ali and Bilawal Bhatti, another promising all-rounder, made their one-day debuts memorable by helping Pakistan record a history-making series win in South Africa in November 2013.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">But it was the recent tour of Sri Lanka that established Ali's place in the Pakistan team after years of inconsistency saw his bowling average balloon to 58.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">“It would not be wrong to say that Ali has finally come of age on this Sri Lanka tour," said coach Waqar Younis.</p> <p style="color: #252525;">“His fielding is extraordinary and he has improved as batsman as well as bowler. If he keeps working hard he will be our main all-rounder.”</p> <p style="color: #252525;">For his part, Ali hopes that he can continue to knock the socks off every opponent.</p>
