Mumbai: Pakistani seamer, Mohammad Asif delivered a strong statement, tagging himself as the best bowler with the new ball in Test cricket.
“If you waste the new ball then you are asking for trouble. In Test cricket in particular, no matter what the opposition or conditions, you have to make the new ball count. No one knows the art of exploiting the new ball better than me,” Asif told reporters.
Mohammad Asif has lived a scandal-filled cricketing career and hit rock bottom in 2010 for being banned and jailed for spot-fixing. He has also been caught carrying illegal drugs at the Dubai Airport, has had a notorious and failed public affair with a TV actress, and has failed a dope test.
In spite of blemishes, Asif has shown his virtue on the first day of the day and night Quaid-Azam Trophy final at the National stadium on Saturday. Such comebacks glitter when you pick up 4 for 29, including three with the new ball, moreover turning his ‘strong comment’ supportive.
Asif turns 34 this month, but with that, the enthusiastic comebacker made it clear to all that his age and fitness should not be a point of concern for anyone.
“All this talk about fitness and age I don’t believe in that particularly when you have a 40 plus player in the national Test side and some in the late thirties.”
“People say spinners mature with age and I believe it is the same with pace bowlers, they also become better and more lethal with age and experience,” he said.
“You can’t even play in domestic cricket if you are not fit.” Asif was quoted saying in a PTI report.
Somewhere, Asif signalled towards senior players of squad who includes Pakistan’s Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq, 42 and Younis Khan (close to 38.)
Mohammad Asif, is a Pakistani right-arm fast medium bowler in cricket. Asif was born in Gujjar family in Sheikhupura. His physique as a fast bowler never made sense. He looks thin enough to be blown away by a poke. But he is strong, as all Gujjars tend to be.