Bilawal Bhatti is a 22 year old right-arm medium-fast bowler hailing from the same town of Muridke as the more famous Pakistan batsman, Imran Nazir. His passion and desire to play cricket started early when he was in school (8th grade) in Muridke and continued at Gujranwala where he played district level cricket, before moving to play Under 19 cricket for Sialkot. In his first season with Sialkot U19s, the PCB recognized his talents at Under 19 level as he took 52 wickets and he was promoted to play First-Class cricket with Sialkot making his debut at the age of 17 in 2009 before being picked up by SNGPL.
Bilawal has a total of 208 First-Class wickets from 46 matches at an average of 22.42 and has an equally impressive record in List A games where he has picked up 59 wickets in 40 games, whilst he has 14 wickets in ten T20 games.
In training as part of the NCA's emerging players program, Bilawal spoke exclusively to PakPassion.net about his experience of playing league cricket in England, his cricket career to date and his aspirations of playing for Pakistan.
by Farid Khan (29th September 2013)
PakPassion.net: How was your experience playing league cricket in the UK?
Bilawal Bhatti: It was a good experience. I was playing in the Staffordshire league which is a good league to play in. Each team in that league had four or five professional cricketers, so I enjoyed that. When you play in a good league, you gain valuable experience. Last year, I played in another league in Derby which was good but each team only really had one or two decent players. In Staffordshire though I got some very useful practice.
PakPassion.net: In which format do you think you can get a chance first in the national side?
Bilawal Bhatti: It's difficult to say as I am playing in all three formats in domestic cricket in Pakistan. I have no such target and I am not focusing on any one format in particular. I am hopeful to give my all in whichever format I get a chance to play in for Pakistan.
PakPassion.net: You are touted as a top all-rounder. Do you think you should have played for Pakistan by now?
Bilawal Bhatti: It's a dream of each and every player to represent his country, no matter how late in his career. I believe it depends on your fate. You can only continue to work hard and continue performing. I have been playing first-class cricket for almost 5 years now and in each season I have taken more than 50 wickets. Based on these performances, I think I should have played for Pakistan by now, but again, it depends on your fate. I am hopeful that very soon I will be able to play for my country.
PakPassion.net: It appears that the ACC Emerging Teams Cup didn't go too well for Pakistan. How was that experience for you?
Bilawal Bhatti: I don't understand why people feel it didn't go well, as we reached the final! Had we not played well, we would have been eliminated earlier. So I don't think it went badly, it was a good experience to reach the final. The weather conditions were difficult, it was a short tour of about 10 days and it was very hot so we couldn't adjust easily.
Everyone played well even though the wickets were not very supportive of fast bowling. We struggled to take wickets but our spinners in particular performed well.
PakPassion.net: Pakistan seems to lack a bowling all rounder in its team at the moment, do you think you can do that job?
Bilawal Bhatti: Yes, Pakistan is really lacking a quality bowling all-rounder. If you ask any all-rounder, he will say that he can do the job. I'll also say the same, of course, as I've been performing well. However, if I get this opportunity, I will give my 100%.
