'Everyone raved about him but talent wasted': Wasim Akram on Pakistan quick
'Everyone raved about him but talent wasted': Wasim Akram on Pakistan quick
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Pakistan, over the years, has produced a number of world-class fast bowlers and with their pace, accuracy and skills, they have added a lot of colour to the cricket fraternity. While Sarfaraz Nawaz and Imran Khan made pace bowling an art, it was taken to another level by the duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis the 1990s and then came the pace merchant and ever mercurial Shoaib Akhtar. Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir roared into scene in the early 2000s and all these bowlers were very successful.
For all their talent and skills, controversy has always followed Pakistan cricket and back in 2010, a spot-fixing scandal tainted Pakistan cricket and led to the downward spiral of both Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. While Amir made a comeback to international cricket, Asif could never quite take the route back. Speaking about the rather unfortunate turn of events, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram said that Asif was very talented, but he wasted everything.
“Yeah, everyone raved about Mohammad Asif. Talent wasted, no doubt,” Akram said on ‘To Be Honest’ on YouTube channel ‘Nashpati Prime’.
“But whoever I talked to, everyone said that they had seen such a bowler after decades. The way he controlled the ball, the way he managed to swing the ball both ways... it's very unfortunate for him and for Pakistan too.”
In his career that spanned between 2005-2010, Asif appeared in 23 Tests, 38 ODIs and 11 T20Is for Pakistan. He picked up 106 wickets in the longest format of the game, 46 in ODIs and 13 in T20Is.
Akram went on to say that mistakes do happen and that he had not seen Asif for a very long time.
“I haven't seen him for ages. I have been living in Karachi for 10 years now, I rarely go to Lahore. He was a kid. Mistakes happen,” said Akram.
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