Former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar recalled Mohammad Asif’s staggering bowling performance against India during the 2006 Karachi Test. He said that he has seen such kind of bowling performance only once or twice.
Debuting for Pakistan in Tests in 2005, Mohammad Asif set the stage on fire in his short career, spanning 5 years. He played 23 Tests for the national side and took 106 wickets at an average of 24.4. But his career was marred after he was found guilty in a spot-fixing scandal in 2010.
One is his best bowling performances came against India during the 2006 Karachi Test, which helped his side defeat the visitors by a big margin of 341 runs and clinch the series 1-0 after the first two matches ended in a draw.
Read Also: I’m enjoying the time out now' - Rishabh Pant happy with no bio-bubble for SA T20Is
After Pakistan posted a first-innings total of 245 runs, Asif then returned with the figures of 4/78 and helped his side bundle out the opposition for 238 runs. His wickets in the first innings included VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan.
The hosts then set a mammoth target of 607 runs for India to chase. Asif again troubled Indian batters with his line and lengths and took a three-wicket haul that helped Pakistan rattle out the visitors for 265 runs and win the match by 341 runs. His wickets in the second innings included Sehwag, Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar.
Speaking to Sportskeeda, Akhtar recalled how he felt Mohammad Asif's remarkable clean-bowl of VVS Laxman was a "fluke" until the seamer did it again with a similar ball in the second innings of the same Test and made him look ordinary fast bowler in front of him.
Read Also: WATCH- Arshdeep Singh prepares with special yorker training during India’s first net session
“The way Asif trapped the Indian team...I have never seen a magician like him. He made me look like a very ordinary fast bowler. I remember him bowling in the 2006 Test match against India. He bowled an inswinger to Laxman and he was bowled out. I told him, 'What a fluke! It does happen once or twice'.
“He replied saying, 'I will dismiss him in the exact same manner in the next innings'. It did not swing that much in that delivery, but it was exactly the same, it seamed as well and Laxman was gone,” Shoaib Akhtar said.
Akhtar said that at the one end he was trying to hurt Sachin Tendulkar, Asif on the other hand troubled Indian batters with a bowling performance, which comes only once or twice.
“While I was trying to hurt Sachin, Indian batting was facing the music in the name of Asif. I have seen such bowling performances only once or twice. The only other bowler who had the same caliber was Wasim Akram,” he said.
(Sportskeeda inputs)
