Former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif has said that the current crop of Pakistan pacers like Musa Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah are actually 27-28 years old and not 17 or 18. In the process, he has sparked the debate on the age-old age fraud issue that has been a problem with the national cricket team. Pakistan is known for producing world-class pacers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Amir and Asif himself.
He spoke about the age fraud issue talking to his former Pakistan teammate Kamran Akmal on the latter’s Youtube channel. Asif said that the inability of the young bowlers to bowl long spells in Test cricket is hurting Pakistan cricket.
“And they are so aged. It is written as 17-18 years on paper, but they are actually 27-28 years old because they don’t have the flexibility to bowl 20-25 overs. They don’t know how to bend the body; they become stiff. They are not able to stand on the field after bowling a 5-6 over spell,” he said on Akmal’s YouTube channel.
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Current Pakistan Bowlers Cannot Take Five-Wicket Hauls: Mohammad Asif
He further said that the current young bowlers cannot take five-wicket hauls regularly. He said no Pakistan bowler has taken five-wicket haul in the last five to six years which speaks about their inability to do so in Test cricket.
“I feel it might have been 5-6 years since a fast bowler took 10 wickets in a match. We used to salivate after seeing the pitches like the ones in New Zealand. There was no question of leaving the ball as a fast bowler. I never used to leave the ball before taking a five-wicket haul,” he stated.
“These kids do not have the knowledge. They don’t know how to keep the batsman on the front foot, not give them a single and how to bowl on the wickets. When they try to bowl on the wickets, it goes down the leg-side. They do not have the control,” Asif further added.
Meanwhile, New Zealand lead the two-match Test series 1-0, while Pakistan is currently struggling in the second Test.
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