Umar Gul backs Hasan Ali to rediscover form.

LAHORE -- Legendary fast-bowler Umar Gul has backed pacer Hasan Ali to rediscover his lost form after series of disappointing performances.

The 24-year-old Hasan, who was the number one bowler in the 50-over format not that long ago, had a difficult time in the recently concluded T20I and ODI series against New Zealand.

In the Asia Cup and T20I series against Australia before facing the Black Caps, Hasan looked a shadow of the bowler he was 12 months back during the ICC Champions Trophy triumph.

But the 34-year-old Gul, who has represented Pakistan in 47 Tests, 130 ODIs and 60 T20Is, believes Hasan has the ability to rediscover his mojo.

'I'm not too worried about Hasan's current form as all bowlers go through ups and downs in their career,' said Gul while talking to PakPassion. 'Sometimes, a loss of form can be down to fatigue and too much cricket and mentally and physically you become tired due to playing continuously. I'm not overly concerned about Hasan as I believe he is a very capable bowler.'

He added: 'What can happen is that when you are new to international cricket, teams don't know about you and you have that surprise element. But after a while, the opposition becomes familiar with your bowling and that can cause issues as they are then wary of your strengths and weaknesses as a bowler. Then as a bowler, you need to come up with some different plans and some new ideas and that is probably what Hassan will have to do.'

Gul further went on to reveal that is now a fan of young and energetic pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi, who won the player of the series award against...