Hasan Azad

A talented left-handed top-order batsman, Hasan Azad hails from Karachi, Sind and represented Pakistan Under-15s before he moved to England in order to play county cricket. Taking into consideration his steady contributions for Leicestershire Second XI in 2018, the youngster earned a professional contract at Leicestershire CCC at the start of 2019. Azad played for Nottinghamshire CCC Academy before making his first-class debut for Loughborough MCCU.

Since making his debut for Leicestershire, Azad has scored profoundly for the club with a first-class average of 50-plus and nearly 1500 runs in the format. In June 2019, Hassan scored twin centuries in a first-class match against Gloucestershire where he scored 137 in the first innings and 100* in the second innings - both knocks as an opener. Facing Gloucestershire in the next match, Hassan again scored a century as having played a graceful knock of 121, but Leicestershire lost that match due to lack of contributions from others in the team. Ryan Higgins claimed seven wickets in the match as Gloucestershire won by 6 wickets.

Against Durham in August 2018, in reply to a massive first innings score of 544, Hassan once again stepped up to the occasion - giving his team a rollicking start. It was due to his twin fifties and a century from Cosgrove, that Leicestershire managed to salvage a draw against Gloucestershire. Hassan Azad has a wide array of shots and a solid technique to deal with the new ball under overcast conditions. Just in his early 20s and looking at the way he's scoring runs consistently for the club, he's got a bright future ahead.

Written by Nikhil Jadhav