Yorkshire have moved quickly to shore up their T20 Blast plans, bringing in Pakistan seamer Hasan Ali after Afghanistan’s Naveen-ul-Haq was ruled out through injury.
Naveen, still recovering from a stress fracture in his right shoulder, missed February’s T20 World Cup and has now pulled out of his Headingley deal. That left Yorkshire light on end-overs expertise, so a call went out to Hasan, who turns 32 later this year and knows English conditions pretty well by now.
He is no stranger to county dressing-rooms. Three productive spells with Warwickshire in 2023-25 produced 44 Blast wickets at an impressive 14.93, and he also filled in for Lancashire in the Championship. At present he sits third on the PSL wicket chart, a reminder that his mix of skiddy pace and canny slower balls still travels.
The agreement covers the entire Blast group stage and two early-season Championship matches—Warwickshire at Edgbaston and Leicestershire at Headingley. The red-ball cameo is a bonus, but the white-ball brief is the priority; Yorkshire finished mid-table last summer and have made death-overs control a clear focus.
Gavin Hamilton, the club’s general manager of cricket, summed up the switch. “Whilst we’re naturally disappointed to not see Naveen join us this year, in Hasan we have an exceptional replacement. He arrives with a wealth of experience and a skillset that we believe will be invaluable to the group. We’re delighted to have secured someone of Hasan’s quality at such short notice, and everyone at the club is looking forward to welcoming him to Headingley next month.”
A handy pick-up, on paper at least. Hasan’s strike-rate and economy in English T20 cricket are both inside the top bracket for overseas quicks over the past three seasons, and his habit of celebrating wickets with that trademark ‘generator’ gesture should go down well on the Western Terrace. Yorkshire’s attack already boasts Jordan Thompson’s heavy ball and Dom Leech’s emerging pace; blend in Hasan’s variations and the final overs start to look a touch calmer.
Of course, much hinges on fitness—Hasan has had back and groin niggles in the past—and on how he balances early-summer red-ball workloads with Blast duty. Still, given the late timing, Yorkshire could scarcely have found a more like-for-like solution.
Hasan is expected in Leeds in early May, medical cleared, visa permitting. Naveen, meanwhile, continues rehab in Kabul with an eye on international duty later in the year. Yorkshire will wish him well, but their immediate focus now sits firmly on integrating a proven, if occasionally streaky, match-winner before the Blast gets underway in late May.
