[2] In his second match, for Trinidad and Tobago against Windward Islands, Ali took 5/32,[3][4] and, following further good performances, was selected in the West Indies Board President's team to play the touring Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) side.
[7] During the 1971/72 home series against New Zealand, Inshan was referred to as "astonishingly skilled and mature" for a player in his early twenties",[8] who "is a small, slim man with short fingers; after a brisk little run his left arm flipped through quickly.
[11] Ali's continuing success in domestic cricket (he took a record 27 wickets during the 1973–74 Shell Shield season)[12] and a reputation as a mystery spinner however ensured that the West Indies hierarchy retained confidence in him when his results were poor.
[13] Ali had a number of shortcomings as a Test cricketer, including his poor batting and his "annoying habit of running across the line of the stumps (while bowling), especially when he senses a caught-and-bowled chance."
[14] He was described as looking "increasingly out of place in the team as the emphasis switched to non-stop fast bowling, and his inability to translate his first-class form to Test level was one of the factors that encouraged West Indies to transform their game.