Hassan grew up in an Afghan refugee family in Peshawar, Pakistan with no tradition of cricket in his family and did not play the game until he left school in 2001. By the age of 22, he had received high praise from the likes of Christian Treloar and Bruno Consalvo.

In 2009, Hassan was recorded as bowling at 90 miles per hour (145 km/h). He picked up four wickets to limit Jersey to 80 in 39.5 overs in the final of the Pepsi ICC WCL Division 5 event. He also picked up 3 for 19 against Italy and 4 for 22 against Fiji in the Pepsi ICC WCL Division 4, finishing the event as the leading wicket-taker with 16 wickets. Onlookers said they had never seen such a breath taking display of pace bowling.

Success in first-class cricket

During Afghanistan's tour of Scotland in August 2010, Hassan took his maiden five wicket haul in first-class cricket during the Intercontinental Cup match. In Scotland's first innings he took 6/50 and in their second innings he took 5/114, which also gave him his maiden ten wicket haul in a match. Afghanistan went on to record a 229 run win.

In the following Intercontinental Cup match against Kenya, Hassan was instrumental in orchestrating Kenya's collapse during their first innings, as he took figures