Abdullah719
T20I Captain
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2013
- Runs
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"I saw Sachin Tendulkar close his eyes while facing Shoaib Akhtar's fiery bouncers" : Mohammad Asif
At a time when cricket fans across the globe have been deprived of quality cricketing action, former Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar had proposed a bilateral series between India and Pakistan to raise funds for both neighbours amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Given the political tensions between the two countries, while Akhtar’s proposal was snubbed by several senior Indian cricketers, there’s no denying the fact that the India-Pakistan rivalry is the mother of all rivalries. Tainted Pakistani pacer Mohammad Asif recalled a spell of fast bowling by Shoaib Akhtar against India – where Asif claimed to have seen batting icon Sachin Tendulkar close his eyes while facing Akhtar’s bouncers.
Recalling India’s tour to Pakistan in the year 2006, in the build-up to the series, Asif recalled how Pakistani players were a bit worried looking at the depth in the Indian batting line-up.
“If you remember the Indian team that came to Pakistan in 2006, they had a solid batting line-up. Dravid was scoring plenty of runs, Sehwag smashed us at Multan. During the Faisalabad Test, both teams scored 600 runs each. We were a bit worried as their batting line-up was deep, MS Dhoni was batting at number seven or eight,” Asif, who was banned for seven years for his role in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal during Pakistan’s tour of England, said on Pakistani show The Burgerz.
Tendulkar closed his eyes while facing Akhtar's bouncers
Asif went on to talk about the 3rd Test – where Pakistan had their back against the wall after Irfan Pathan claimed a hat-trick to leave Pakistan wobbling at 3/0 after removing Salman Butt (0), Younis Khan (0) and Mohammad Yousuf (0) in the first over of the match. Asif claimed that after Pakistan were bowled out for a paltry total, Akhtar bowled so fast that he saw Tendulkar close his eyes while facing a couple of bouncers bowled by the Rawalpindi Express.
“When the match started, Irfan Pathan claimed a hat-trick in the first over itself. Our morale was down. Kamran Akmal scored a century lower down the order. We scored around 240 runs. When we started bowling, Shoaib Akhtar bowled at express pace in that match. I was standing at square leg near the umpire and I myself saw that Tendulkar closed his eyes while facing one or two bouncers bowled by Shoaib. The Indians were playing on the backfoot and we didn’t allow them to score even 240 in the first innings. We snatched victory from jaws of defeat,” the pacer added.
Talking about the match, after being bowled out for 245 in the first innings, Pakistan bowlers restricted India to 238. The hosts then went on to put 599 runs on board in the second innings and went on to win the match by 341 runs.
https://www.timesnownews.com/sports...rs-fiery-bouncers-claims-mohammad-asif/597188
==
Quotes from Asif appearance in a talkshow
"The best 3-4 fast bowlers who have come to the fore in the past have been Gujjars - Shoaib Akhtar, Amir and I are all Gujjars"
"For fast bowling you need strong bodies, and Gujjars as you know have always been strong"
"We are getting a lot of quantity when it comes to newer fast bowlers but the quality is not coming through"
"Nowadays you have many contracted players and anyone can be replaced - in our days, we had Shoaib Akhtar, myself as established players and you just need to select others to fill the rest of the places in contracts"
"Before when batsmen came in to the team, they spoke of role models like Mohammad Yousuf or Younis Khan but looking at the batsmen in our team today, no one wants to use them as role models"
"We need some more batsmen like Babar Azam in our middle order who can become the backbones of the team"
"From the time I was a matric student, I would continously practice bowling from 2-6pm every day"
"You obviously need to have a God given talent but there is also a role that the pitch plays as it did in England during the World Cup where our bowlers had best conditions for swing and seam bowling, but they did not make use of them"
"I am playing domestic cricket also but its not my style to sit at the door of people and ask for a way back in (to the team)"
"My job is perform on the ground - look at Wahab who went to play in the World Cup - we both played for WAPDA and I took 19 wickets in 2 games but Wahab had 2 wickets but he got called for the World Cup"
"Shoaib Akhtar bowled very fast in the Karachi Test vs India, I was standing close to the umpire at square leg, I saw for myself that Sachin's eyes were closed whilst playing one or 2 bouncers from Shoaib"
"The way ball was inswinging from us, Sarfraz Nawaz commented that it appeared that ball had hit a stone and swung in"
"When playing against KP, I knew from the night before that he was going to be my wicket"
At a time when cricket fans across the globe have been deprived of quality cricketing action, former Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar had proposed a bilateral series between India and Pakistan to raise funds for both neighbours amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Given the political tensions between the two countries, while Akhtar’s proposal was snubbed by several senior Indian cricketers, there’s no denying the fact that the India-Pakistan rivalry is the mother of all rivalries. Tainted Pakistani pacer Mohammad Asif recalled a spell of fast bowling by Shoaib Akhtar against India – where Asif claimed to have seen batting icon Sachin Tendulkar close his eyes while facing Akhtar’s bouncers.
Recalling India’s tour to Pakistan in the year 2006, in the build-up to the series, Asif recalled how Pakistani players were a bit worried looking at the depth in the Indian batting line-up.
“If you remember the Indian team that came to Pakistan in 2006, they had a solid batting line-up. Dravid was scoring plenty of runs, Sehwag smashed us at Multan. During the Faisalabad Test, both teams scored 600 runs each. We were a bit worried as their batting line-up was deep, MS Dhoni was batting at number seven or eight,” Asif, who was banned for seven years for his role in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal during Pakistan’s tour of England, said on Pakistani show The Burgerz.
Tendulkar closed his eyes while facing Akhtar's bouncers
Asif went on to talk about the 3rd Test – where Pakistan had their back against the wall after Irfan Pathan claimed a hat-trick to leave Pakistan wobbling at 3/0 after removing Salman Butt (0), Younis Khan (0) and Mohammad Yousuf (0) in the first over of the match. Asif claimed that after Pakistan were bowled out for a paltry total, Akhtar bowled so fast that he saw Tendulkar close his eyes while facing a couple of bouncers bowled by the Rawalpindi Express.
“When the match started, Irfan Pathan claimed a hat-trick in the first over itself. Our morale was down. Kamran Akmal scored a century lower down the order. We scored around 240 runs. When we started bowling, Shoaib Akhtar bowled at express pace in that match. I was standing at square leg near the umpire and I myself saw that Tendulkar closed his eyes while facing one or two bouncers bowled by Shoaib. The Indians were playing on the backfoot and we didn’t allow them to score even 240 in the first innings. We snatched victory from jaws of defeat,” the pacer added.
Talking about the match, after being bowled out for 245 in the first innings, Pakistan bowlers restricted India to 238. The hosts then went on to put 599 runs on board in the second innings and went on to win the match by 341 runs.
https://www.timesnownews.com/sports...rs-fiery-bouncers-claims-mohammad-asif/597188
==
Quotes from Asif appearance in a talkshow
"The best 3-4 fast bowlers who have come to the fore in the past have been Gujjars - Shoaib Akhtar, Amir and I are all Gujjars"
"For fast bowling you need strong bodies, and Gujjars as you know have always been strong"
"We are getting a lot of quantity when it comes to newer fast bowlers but the quality is not coming through"
"Nowadays you have many contracted players and anyone can be replaced - in our days, we had Shoaib Akhtar, myself as established players and you just need to select others to fill the rest of the places in contracts"
"Before when batsmen came in to the team, they spoke of role models like Mohammad Yousuf or Younis Khan but looking at the batsmen in our team today, no one wants to use them as role models"
"We need some more batsmen like Babar Azam in our middle order who can become the backbones of the team"
"From the time I was a matric student, I would continously practice bowling from 2-6pm every day"
"You obviously need to have a God given talent but there is also a role that the pitch plays as it did in England during the World Cup where our bowlers had best conditions for swing and seam bowling, but they did not make use of them"
"I am playing domestic cricket also but its not my style to sit at the door of people and ask for a way back in (to the team)"
"My job is perform on the ground - look at Wahab who went to play in the World Cup - we both played for WAPDA and I took 19 wickets in 2 games but Wahab had 2 wickets but he got called for the World Cup"
"Shoaib Akhtar bowled very fast in the Karachi Test vs India, I was standing close to the umpire at square leg, I saw for myself that Sachin's eyes were closed whilst playing one or 2 bouncers from Shoaib"
"The way ball was inswinging from us, Sarfraz Nawaz commented that it appeared that ball had hit a stone and swung in"
"When playing against KP, I knew from the night before that he was going to be my wicket"
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