Earlier this week, Ross Taylor, speaking to the ICC website, listed Haider Ali among the top five emerging batters to watch out for at the 2022 T20 World Cup. His explanation for the choice was simple: “Pakistan move him up and down the order but wherever he bats, he is capable of hitting the ground running.”

A resplendent stroke-maker who has steadily made the jump from Under-16s to Under-19s to domestic and now international cricket, Haider was initially seen as a top-order batter. He opened in the 50-over U19 World Cup in 2020, batted at No.3 in six out of nine innings during his debut PSL season later that year, and batted both as an opener and at No.3 in his first six months in international T20 cricket.

There was the odd shuffle down the order: in PSL 2021, he played an innings each at five and six, and in T20Is last year, played three innings at five and one at six. It was probably more to do with Pakistan’s search for a stable middle order than anything: since the start of 2021, as many as 16 players (including Haider) have featured at five or six for the T20I side. But Haider’s stints in the middle weren’t long ones.

At different points over the last few years, Pakistan’s team sheet has looked like an hourglass. Boasting a record-shattering opening pair and an array of fine bowlers, sandwiched between them is a middle order that changes its composition every series. The last year and a half has been tricky, with Shoaib Malik fading away and Mohammad Hafeez retiring (the two have the highest strike rates for Pakistan at No.5 and No.6 since 2021), the right resources down the order haven’t been easy to find.

As they enter the World Cup, Pakistan have their top three sorted in Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shan Masood. It’s a trio (at least the top two) that has found success in spending time laying a foundation instead of being pyrotechnical. While that has worked to a great extent, it tends to put pressure on those to follow. It requires batters to, as Taylor put it, come in and hit the ground running.

That’s where Haider comes back into the picture. His statistics might have fallen off compared to his first year in T20Is – so far in 2022, he averages 11.37 with a strike rate of 122.97. But he’s also found a different role upon his return to the side, having been tested as a down the order cameo figure. For a player known to bat high up, Haider strikes at 136.13 in the middle overs of a T20I’s (overs 7 to 16) and 149.47 at the death (last four overs). His lack of consistency, much needed at the top of the order, has been tagged as an issue for Haider and was arguably the reason why he was omitted for a brief period last year. This new role could take away that expectation and give him much needed freedom.

Tried at No.5 and No.6 during the recent tri-series in New Zealand, Haider proved to be a handy presence. A 98-metre six was one half of his 10* off 2 against New Zealand, giving breathing space to Babar Azam in a 148-run chase. A week later, he pounded 31 off 15 against the same opposition, helping Pakistan hunt down 164 in the tri-series final. His compact, clean strokeplay spoke of a man riding on confidence, and he himself admitted that the knock had “boosted his morale” going into the World Cup.

It also gives Pakistan a more settled look going into the tournament. They have recently found success at four with Mohammad Nawaz, using his dexterity against spin to keep the work rate high in the middle overs. His three innings at No.4 (two unbeaten) have come at a strike rate of 202 and there’s good reason to believe he could repeat more of the same during the World Cup. As an alternative, there’s Shadab Khan too, whose free-flowing stroke play at four earlier this month would have given Pakistan further comfort that they finally have the required punch in their middle order. With one of Nawaz and Shadab following Masood, and Haider and Asif Ali coming after, the team sheet doesn’t look like an hourglass after all.

For Haider, still just 22, it could be a small role to play in a potentially long career. One could still see him go back to playing a more central role in the top four as he strengthens his position further. The promise of a long innings was evident in his first few T20I appearances, when he cracked 54 off 33 on debut at No.3 against England in September 2020, and 66* off 43 against Zimbabwe two months later. In a way, he could go down the same path as his role model, Rohit Sharma, who started off as a bustling presence in the middle order, before making his way up the sheet and flourishing as an opener. Rohit’s claim to fame was the 2007 T20 World Cup; Haider could see a similar dawn as an explosive middle-order player in 2022.

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