Former Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Asif brushed aside India keeper-batter Rishabh Pant's 146, saying that he did no wonders and that it was totally England bowlers' fault after the left-hander stole the limelight on Day 1 of the rescheduled Test between England and India.
The 24-year-old played one of the finest knocks of his career and yet again bailed his team out of trouble when it seemed that they would falter. Pant rescued India’s innings when they found themselves tumbling at 95/5.
The southpaw counter-attacked the English bowlers and took them to the cleaners to pave his way through his century in just 89 balls, the fastest by an Indian wicketkeeper batter.
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He ended up with a score of 146 in 111 balls and batted with a strike rate of 131.53. His knock included 19 fours and 4 sixes and he also put on a partnership of 222 runs for the sixth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja, who scored unbeaten 83 runs.
Many fans and pundits lavished rich praise on Pant and called him the best wicketkeeper batter currently in Tests. But he faced criticism from former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif.
Asif in the video shared by a Pakistani journalist on Twitter said that Pant did no wonders as it was completely England bowlers’ fault as they didn’t bowl to him in his weak areas.
“It was totally England bowlers’ fault as Pant did no wonders. He [Pant] has technical faults. His left-hand doesn’t work but still, he managed to score a century because English bowlers didn’t bowl to him in his weak areas,” Mohammad Asif said.
Asif while highlighting that England made a lot of mistakes said that making Jack Leach bowl to Jadeja and Pant wasn’t an ideal option. He said that this gave chance to the keeper batter to score big.
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“I will not name individuals but England made a lot of mistakes. When Jadeja and Pant were batting, they brought in a left-arm spinner who wasn’t an ideal option to bowl at that moment. I am not against Pant, but with such decisions by the opposition, you get an edge to score big,” he said.
Asif remarked that when he pointed out the error in Virat Kohli’s technique a couple of years ago people made a mockery of him. He backed his comments from a few years ago and said that the right-hander needs to work harder.
“I pointed out Kohli’s technical fault a couple of years ago but people started calling me out. See today, he hasn’t scored a century for a long time now. I love watching Kohli and even though he is a big player than me. But technically, he needs to work harder,” he said.
