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Asif Mujtaba, perhaps most famous for sealing a miraculous tie by smashing Steve Waugh for 16 runs in an ODI in 1992, made his debut in 1986 and represented Pakistan in 25 tests and 66 ODIs over the course of a decade. Currently coaching in Dallas, Texas, Asif spoke to PakPassion.net about his thoughts on the current state of Pakistan cricket and shared his own experiences whilst representing his country.
Many thanks to Sehsan for this interview and our heartfelt thanks to the PP Team (PCF/SOSAMI/Khabri/IS) for their effort to write this up!
Many thanks to Sehsan for this interview and our heartfelt thanks to the PP Team (PCF/SOSAMI/Khabri/IS) for their effort to write this up!
PakPassion.net: Tell us a bit about your current activities. Are you still playing cricket? Coaching?
Asif Mujtaba: I am involved with the local leagues here in Dallas, Texas. I'm currently a coach and selector for the North Texas Cricket Association as well as a youth developer. Occasionally, I also play some matches in the local league and provide one to one coaching or group coaching on a private basis. Other than that, I have a regular job which keeps me busy Monday to Friday.
PakPassion.net: What was your favourite venue in Pakistan or overseas?
Asif Mujtaba: In Pakistan, it’s the Gaddafi Stadium and overseas I would say Lord’s.
PakPassion.net: Tell us a bit about your experience playing at Lord’s.
Asif Mujtaba: It’s the headquarters of cricket. Lord’s has a lot of tradition and history – it has an outstanding status. The atmosphere makes it special. Playing a match there is a surreal experience. Other than that, all cricket stadiums have the same basics to them but it’s all about the atmosphere that’s present at the ground on the day. As a Muslim, prayer is prayer whether you pray at your local masjid or at Masjid-e-Haram, but praying at Masjid-e-Haram is an entirely different feeling. In a way Lords is the “Qibla” of cricket – the experience of playing in it is something totally different.
PakPassion.net: Moving on to your cricketing career, you’ve played a lot of cricket for Pakistan. In domestic cricket, you averaged almost 50. What was the reason you weren’t able to achieve a similar record in international cricket?
Asif Mujtaba: Yes, it is correct that I was not able to replicate my domestic record to my international career, at least on a consistent basis. I played 25 Tests and 66 ODIs over a span of eleven years, which equates to roughly two tests and six ODIs per year and there are many underlying reasons for that. I have a century in ODIs but none in tests, even though I feel I was a better test player. However, in my test career there have been several innings that I played which were very crucial to the outcome of the match. At the end of the day, it gives me great satisfaction that I scored runs when the team needed the most, despite not having a century to my name in tests. This is all part of the game and sometimes the pressure or standard of international cricket plays a major part. This is life – where you have successes and failures side by side.
PakPassion.net: What number batting position did you feel that you were most suited for? For example, you batted at number six in ODIs. Given your batting style, one would feel that your batting style was more suited for the number four slot?
Asif Mujtaba: Yes, I think that is a fair assessment. In one-dayers, I have opened for Pakistan in six matches and by far that is my most successful batting position with a century and half-century. Despite the initial success, I was not persisted with in that position. During that time, if a player was successful at a particular batting position, he continued to play at that position. We had many players who moved up or down the order and remained playing there based on the success, but not in my case. Of course there were certain elements during that time that influenced this.
PakPassion.net: Tell us a bit about those elements that you just mentioned.
Asif Mujtaba: It’s all about the need at that time. When they need an opener, they’ll play you and when they feel like it, they’ll remove you from that position.
PakPassion.net: If a player is performing at a particular spot in the batting order and well settled into the role, shouldn’t he be continued with?
Asif Mujtaba: Yes, of course, but I feel it wasn’t so in my case, maybe at that time they didn’t want to play a particular opener and instead gave me a chance, and when they had settled things with that opener they may brought him back in my place, moving me back down the order. These sorts of things have happened in the past.
PakPassion.net: You played in era when there were many greats such as Javed Miandad, Inzamam, Imran Khan, and Salim Malik. How was your experience playing with some of these greats and how cooperative and receptive where they with you?
Asif Mujtaba: I made my debut under Imran Khan’s captaincy and also played under the captaincy of Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram. Inzamam was a junior in those days and came in later as captain. Even though I played under the captaincies of Ramiz Raja and Salim Malik, they were not major captains like Imran, Miandad, and Wasim. For any player, it’s a dream come true and a great experience to play alongside some of the greats of the game and under their captaincy.
I am very fortunate to have been able to experience this since not every player gets such a chance. Its one of the moments of my life that I cherish greatly and is engraved permanently in my memory. All the knowledge, the ups and downs in cricket, and everything else that I have learned from them, I don’t have words to thank them enough. These days you don’t even know if the captain will be playing the next match or not, how can you expect a player to admire or learn from him. This is a major problem in Pakistan Cricket these days as you don’t have a captain who leads from the front. Captains such as Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Salim Malik, and Inzamam have always led from the front. Their performances have always been top-class and that’s why players who played with them saw them as role models. Today's captains struggle to cement their own place in the team, so how can you expect the more junior players to view him as a role model.
PakPassion.net: Tell us a little about the dressing room, as during your time there were many stars such as Imran [Khan], Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram and Saleem Malik. To what extent did they cooperate with and welcome junior players?
Asif Mujtaba: Each person has his own manner. The junior players that arrive of course they are all welcomed, but players and captains have their own individual methods. Their own personal likes or dislikes are always involved – if someone you like comes in, then that player will always be supported and provided with guidance. If a player comes in that you didn’t want to be selected, once the junior arrives, then he is the equivalent of a cricketing orphan. This will occur due to the selectors or some other reason he makes it into the team, but the captain doesn’t like him. It may not be personal, but for whatever reason the captain doesn’t want him to be selected due to personnel reasons or otherwise, each individual has his own likes and dislikes, then that is the governing factor and it has some negatives - the player becomes an orphan child.
PakPassion.net: You played under three captains. Which player did you feel utilised you best?
Asif Mujtaba: Javed Miandad was good, but Wasim Akram utilised me even better. In his time, I opened the batting and I performed. It’s a good question! He played me wherever I was required.
PakPassion.net: When I look at the current team and see Fawad Alam, his batting style reminds me a lot of yours – he plays calmly, as did you. Do you agree with this? Also, people say he’s not technically sound, what are your views?
Asif Mujtaba: What difference do people’s opinions make? Just look at his stats. He’s performing, just look at his average, and then you ask him to come out and hit sixes, it’s unfair as his role isn’t that of a six hitter is it?
Whatever they say about him, the issues comes down to personal likes and dislikes. I’ve been in America for five years now, so I don’t know too much. Fawad was a child when I was there and he’d just started playing first class cricket as a new boy and [I thought] he will be good- and he is a good player and there’s proof of this. I don’t think there is anything in his ability or performance for him to be out of the team.
I’m sitting here [in the USA] and if I was in Pakistan maybe I could elaborate and understand it better, but I’m not in touch with anyone to discuss what is going on so all I can do is sit here and say if you want him to perform in T20s and hit sixes, then you are living in a fools world.
He is a provider and an accumulator, he isn’t a six-hitter. He’s scored a debut century in a test match and no one is asking about him, asking “why, what’s the reason?” I haven’t followed it, but we all know he has scored a test match century. Which Pakistani batsman isn’t failing? There are a lot of players who score in one innings and fail in the next eight, but they are still being selected. As I said earlier, it comes down to personal preferences and its reflected in selection.
PakPassion.net: If you look at Fawad Alam’s domestic record, he averages over 50, but he is consistently not being given the chance. People say Ijaz Butt doesn’t like him for some reason - there is something strange there, isnt it?
Asif Mujtaba: There could be, definitely. Off the field, there may be something that’s resulting in him not being selected. He is a good fielder; he can be a useful left-arm bowler with a bit more practice. He’s left out for reasons known to the selectors and administrators of Pakistan cricket.
PakPassion.net: How similar is your case to Hasan Raza? You were both batsmen who came in at a young age, you both had very good first class careers, and both didn’t play many matches for Pakistan, although you did play more. Is it due to luck or immense pressure - why do some players not make it?
Asif Mujtaba: I was a 19 year-old but they played Hasan Raza at 14! There is a big difference in those years. Players from the age of 17 to 19 suddenly mature, although still not completely so there’s a big difference between 14 and 19. I didn’t compare myself [with Raza] due to such a large age difference. Even now there are players aged 16 to 19 playing today, and I played when I was 19, but you can’t compare this to a 14 year old. You can’t compare in terms of age, but of course in terms of chances yes you can.
It comes down to a natural life cycle, some are successful, some aren’t. If everyone was successful, there would be too many players, and who would you ask about?
I remember an old story - Zaheer Abbas bhai was sitting watching cricket and this occurred 30 or so years ago. He started saying “why doesn’t he play like this, why doesn’t he play like that” and I said “Zaheer bhai, don’t think of it as you are batting, not everyone can play like you. You are a world class batsman, if everyone played like you, then no one will be able to recognise you!”
Allah (SWT) has created a system where there are leaders, and then they have their ministers, then officers who build their empires. This is how the system works. I remember speaking to him [Zaheer Abbas] about this a very long time ago.
PakPassion.net: Lets talk about two of your most memorable performances. The first one was a match-winning 60 not out against Australia and the second one was where you hit the six of Steve Waugh. Tell us about these matches – you hit very few sixes in domestic cricket yet you are remembered for that six!
Asif Mujtaba: [Laughs] You are right – I remember hitting only two sixes. The match with the six was around 1992 or early 1993, the score wasn’t a big one and we only needed around 240. The Pakistan team had recently won the World Cup and also won the England tour, but to defeating Australia is something the Pakistan team has always found difficult.
I batted number six at that time and we were losing the match when Rashid Latif came out to bat. We decided to at least try and time is running out so we decided to open up and play – he started hitting and then so did I. We needed around ten runs per over at that point, but the score wasn’t a big one, around 240. He [Latif] hit 31 when he was run out, but by that point he had halved the required number of required runs. After that we had Wasim Akram, Waqar [Younis], Mushtaq [Ahmed] and then finally Aaqib Javed.
Off the final over we needed 17 to win and Mushtaq got out off the first ball, and I crossed to the strikers end. Second ball, I remember I hit a four. After that, we took a single, then a two. I wanted to cover the double, but Aaqib refused the second. There were three balls, left, and we needed 12 to win. Aaqib hit a four off the fourth ball of the over and a single off the next ball, leaving seven required off the final ball. I thought ‘we can’t make seven, but I can hit a six to tie’, and the bowler didn’t bowl a no-ball.
It happens that sometimes your prayers get answered and I was praying for a six!
We had tied the match! The six [off the final ball] was such that it went many rows back – I had never hit a six like that in my life. The ball was hit to "cow corner" - If you look at the man standing at midwicket he started running back and gave up because he knew it was going for six. I guess this is a joyful moment and a moment to cherish!
PakPassion.net: That is a very memorable six and you must have gained a lot of confidence after playing that knock.
Asif Mujtaba: It shows why having confidence from the decision makers is important. I’m not going to sit here and blame anyone for what happened in my career. I got a lot of opportunities and the blame lies with me. I had the skill and the talent to success but I wasn’t able to perform very well in international cricket. It could just be that I was not able to handle pressure at that time. I had the talent but I just couldnt make it count.
PakPassion.net: In that sense you were very lucky because you were give ample opportunities to succeed. It’s unfortunate that you couldn’t make the most of those opportunities.
Asif Mujtaba: As I said before, I’m not going to blame anyone else. I got the opportunities and did not make the most of them. I’m going to blame myself for that. However, I’m happy that whatever success I did have at that time came in victories for Pakistan. Most of those knocks were match winning contributions so I’m satisfied with that aspect of my career.
PakPassion.net: Tell us a bit about the special knock you played against a strong South African bowling attack. In that match you made 74 runs and had a 165 run partnership with Javed Miandad.
Asif Mujtaba: Javed Miandad went on to make a century in that match while I made 74 runs. We were in early trouble at 29/3 and that was an important partnership. In that match Javed bhai batted at number four and I came in at five.
PakPassion.net: How was the experience of batting with Javed Miandad
Asif Mujtaba: Batting with him was a special experience. You can consider him to be the godfather of batting. It’s really unfortunate that younger batsmen don’t use his advice and tips on improving their batting. The same was done when we had Hanif Mohamad. There was so much to learn from him but we never used those opportunities. Hanif Mohammad and Javed Miandad are two legends of the game from whom we as players and the Pakistani Cricket Board could have learned so much from but we wasted those opportunities, irrespective of the politics involved. Javed Miandad is still able to provide tips to the young players but we have let our egos get in the way. Our batting lineup is continuously in a crisis but we never learn. Nobody cares about the country and it has all become about egos. The differences need to be put aside for the betterment of Pakistani cricket.
PakPassion.net: You must still follow Pakistani cricket. What are you views on the constant turmoil? Shahid Afridi as captain led the team to series victories in New Zealand and West Indies as well as leading the team to the semis of the World Cup. But now he has once again been removed from captaincy and the turmoil has once again returned. What’s your opinion of all this?
Asif Mujtaba: It just proves what I had told you earlier. How can you expect great performance from someone when they constantly have a sword hanging above their heads? How can someone lead the team when they have to worry about constantly saving their job? It’s very difficult for the captain to perform well and lead the team when his own position is constantly in danger.
PakPassion.net: This is almost a repeat of what happened to Younis Khan. He had lead the team to the T20 World Cup victory and got to the semis of the Champions Trophy. But due to the internal politics and the weakness of the board he was replaced. As a former Pakistani cricketer, why do you think such events have become the norm for Pakistani cricket?
Asif Mujtaba: You cannot look at the Pakistani team in isolation. The cricket team is a reflection of the overall Pakistani society and mindset. People playing for Pakistan are not some special people that have landed from the sky. These guys are Pakistanis and their behaviour is a reflection of society, the same politics that afflict our society also apply to our team. So the fact that we constantly have changes in captaincy and what not should not come as a surprise to anyone. It’s the norm for Pakistan. Shoaib Malik was made captain when he was performing very well as a player. Then he was removed due to various reasons and Younis Khan was made captain. Then he was replaced by Mohammad Yousuf. He suffered the same fate and now the same has happened to Afridi. This is normal for Pakistan. How can you change five captains in one year? We have more captains in one year than there are seasons.
PakPassion.net: Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, and Misbah have all captained the the team recently. Who would you make the captain if it were up to you?
Asif Mujtaba: I would definitely like to see Younis Khan as the captain. He has a lot of experience did very well as the captain, but you have to give the captain enough power to do things his way. Everybody in the team should have their own role and they should not step on the toes of others when it comes to decision making. The coach should concentrate on the coaching aspect of the game. He should provide feedback to the captain and he should execute the plan. The captain and the coach need to work as a team to improve the team. If a certain plan is not working then they should get together and figure out where the flaws are. The captain should not point fingers at the coach and the same thing goes for the coach. That is the wrong way of getting things done. They should sort out all misunderstandings between them. This all comes back to the Pakistani society. We cannot work together! the moment we have a slightest hiccup, we start bad-mouthing each other! What happens in the team is a reflection of the society.
PakPassion.net: Do you think that Pakistan team needs a foreign coach rather than a local one?
Asif Mujtaba: There have been problems with the foreign coaches as well. It’s not about the coach – it’s about the mindset. Whether we hire a foreign coach or a local coach, it makes little difference because coaching has nothing to do with nationality, but the mindset.
PakPassion.net: I say this because with a foreign coach, team politics is not as prevalent as it is with a local coach. For instance, during Bob Woolmer and Geoff Lawson’s tenure, politics was not so dominant.
Asif Mujtaba: But change of captain occurred even at that time [during foreign coaches’ tenure]. During that time, we had Inzamam as captain - he was a performer himself and led from the front. So we did not have a captaincy problem as such. But still there were other problems with the team at that time. We could not handle Shoaib Akhtar properly. He was a player who had the potential to earn us a lot of victories but we pampered him for whatever reasons.
During Bob Woolmer’s time, we had a very strong captain and performer in Inzamam-ul-Haq. That’s why we did not have captaincy issues then. The problems were there – only their names changed.
These things have nothing to do with the nationality of the coach. The language barrier is another problem that arises with the appointment of a foreign coach. We should accept that we don't have players who can understand that language. For example, Australians have an accent that is very difficult to pick. Likewise, if you hire a West Indian coach, how are the players going to understand his accent? Moreover, if the language barrier exists, the players are unable to express their feelings. Apart from that, making fun of people is very common in our society. Now if a player speaks one or two English words incorrectly, he would not be spared. The bottom line is that if our players cannot speak English. That's not a problem at all and nothing to be ashamed of. English is not our language. Most sportsmen in the world talk in their native tongue even if they know English. If you want to know what I am saying, then hire an interpreter! We should be proud of our language. But we are always looking to downplay ourselves. We need to change our mindsets. If you cannot speak Urdu, talk in Punjabi, Pushto or whatever language you feel comfortable with! That way you will be able to express yourselves. Whoever wants to listen to you will arrange for an interpreter.
If we have a foreign coach, how will a player be able to express his feelings to him? They will say “everything is okay, we’re fine”. The players would hesitate in participating in one-to-one sessions with the coach thinking that how he would communicate with the coach and would people make fun of their English! As you know people also make fun of our players whenever they give interviews in English in front of the camera!
PakPassion.net: Do you believe that if we do hire a local coach, then is should be ensured that he hasn't played with any of the current national team members in the past?
Asif Mujtaba: No, not at all. Actually, there are certain things that have happened in the past which is why such thoughts come to our minds. I think a current coach [one who recently retired from international cricket] proves to be better because he has a better understanding of the present situation, atmosphere and the modern game. There are some coaches who retired from international cricket in 1969-70 but have been subsequently involved within the coaching profession since then – that’s something different. However, if there’s someone who retired in the 1960s, remained out of touch with cricket and suddenly started coaching in 2010, that’s not on! There is a huge difference between the intensity of pressure during that era and the modern era.
Secondly, it is said that great players do not necessarily make good coaches – there is no doubt that this is true. But that coach knows about the match pressure very well – certainly much better than a coach who is not a cricketer. A great player may not be a good coach and a player who has played little or no international cricket may turn out to be a good coach. Handling match pressure is the main thing – the coach should be able to teach the player how to do that. So there should be a combination of both the things. If you have a coach who has played good international cricket, then that’s icing on the cake! Waqar Younis is the present coach – he has gone through the same pressure situations, so they should take advantage of his experience. Likewise when Javed Miandad was the coach, they should have made use of his experience. Instead of that, we are having problems with egos. The coach is bad in our eyes if he says something that we don’t like! Similarly, if the coach doesn’t like what a player says, then he is labelled as a bad player! This is where the problem lies according to me.
PakPassion.net: If you’re offered to coach a domestic team or the international team, would you accept the offer?
Asif Mujtaba: Cricket is my life. If I get an offer, I will definitely accept it – why wouldn’t I? Why wouldn’t I utilise my experience constructively? I will certainly accept the offer.
PakPassion.net: What are your opinions on the three youngsters, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq and Usman Salahuddin?
Asif Mujtaba: I haven’t seen Usman Salahuddin – he is a new player and he must have performed well in domestic cricket which is why they selected him. Umar Akmal and Asad Shafiq are two very different types of batsmen. Umar Akmal is more aggressive with less technique. Asad Shafiq is a batsman with good technique and patience – he's a compact batsman. Their styles are different - you can depend on Asad Shafiq. You cannot predict what Umar Akmal will do. He might play a shot that would ultimately cost him his wicket at any instant. But both have immense talent. How they utilise Umar Akmal’s talent is important.
There’s very fine line between talent and ability. The talent is there but does a player have the ability to convert that talent into performance? This is the duty of a coach – The coach should know how to get the best out of a player. If he can get the best out the players, he is a good coach. A good manager can get results from a weak team too. Likewise, a good captain can manage a weak team too. I give you the example of Nasser Hussain. Just look at the condition of the England team at the time when he took over the captaincy. Nasser Hussain is one of the best captains I have ever seen. There’s a difference between captaincy and coaching – each individual should perform his own duty.
PakPassion.net: You were a very good fielder, especially at short leg but in general too. What do you think are the reasons for Pakistani fielding not as good as it should be?
Asif Mujtaba: Firstly, whenever we pick the team we look at who took the wickets and made the runs. We don’t consider how many runs a fielder has saved and whether he’s a good fielder or not – it’s always been the case and it has continued to the present day.
Given these terms are not considered, whether a player is a good fielder or not. If he isn’t a good fielder, they'll hide him away. Greater focus needs to be placed on fielding ability, not just who is the better bowler or batsman. There is never a discussion on which fielder is better –if there is such a discussion it is a brief one. Fielding is no longer a major component of selection within Pakistani cricket.
People may rebutt my comments and state this is not the case but over the last five years, the percentage element applied to fielding criteria is very low. The attitude is ‘whoever is the better batsman or bowler is selected in the team, we’ll work on his fielding’.
Every team focuses on fielding, England has one of the best fielding teams but what did they do in the [2011] World Cup ? The worst fielding. Their grounds are good, their system is quality, something Pakistan has caught up with somewhat. Although you may have quantity, having quality is also very important. If you have quantity but no quality, you won’t be able to achieve things very well.
Also, it’s important to have a lot of things to follow and complete. They are trying, but the resources are lacking. If you look at India, a player earns hundreds of thousands of rupees in a season. Here [in Pakistan], a local player his maximum maximum average income, if he’s playing for a department, a commercial organisation or a city team , he won’t earn more than 250,000 or 200,000 rupees. Compared to Indians, who earn millions of rupees. Our resources are way behind other top countries. With respect to resources, we have the Lahore academy, which is a no-go area for regular cricketers, so how can we improve our cricket? Only PCB-approved players are allowed in there.
PakPassion.net: When you were playing domestic cricket in the 1990s, Pakistan produced a lot of genuinely quick bowlers in that era. Players like Mohammad Zahid, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Nazir and Mohammad Akram and there probably are a couple of names I’ve forgotten to mention! What is the reason we don’t have that level of quality coming through?
Asif Mujtaba: It comes down to eras. The West Indies had many fast bowlers, a battery of fast bowlers and they ruled. Now they don’t have any bowlers coming through. If you look at India, they had many batsmen, and they still do, but they don’t have the class to replace Sachin Tendulkar or Dravid. In the same way if you take away Australia’s batting or bowling. Since Shane Warne or McGrath are no longer there, their bowling lacks strength and they are trying to overcome this. Look at England too – sometimes a group of players arrives and you make it to the top. When your time ends, there is no backup. That’s why having backup is very important.
When you have good bowlers, in fact there are good bowlers, but the set-up is such that they are not being paid the attention adequately. Wahab Riaz is there, and there are other bowlers, Junaid Khan, and it’s not important they are quick bowlers - we need players who can take wickets. It’s his job to take wickets. Fast bowlers of course are a sensation for the team if you have then it’s all well and good, but we need bowlers who know how to take wickets. Fast bowling isn’t an achievement; the real achievement is to take wickets.
PakPassion.net: Did you have any experience of playing against Mohammad Zahid?
Asif Mujtaba: Not in a match, but I played him in the nets when he used to played a lot together in the PIA. We all used to try and avoid him because he was quick. In particular, people used to avoid the beamer - he used to bowl beamers to everyone in the nets and you had to play him carefully.
PakPassion.net: How did he compare to Shoaib Akhtar in terms of pace?
Asif Mujtaba: From what I’ve seen, Zahid is quicker. They had different qualities in their bowling. Shoaib used to try and bowl pace from a shorter length, whereas Zahid used to get pace from pitching it up. Unfortunately, he had a fitness problem from which he couldn’t play but he was very quick and accurate.
PakPassion.net: Unfortunately the PCB didn’t handle him correctly.
Asif Mujtaba: There is a possibility, definitely there is a chance the PCB didn’t handle him properly. Zahid he had very good control, he wasn’t wayward. Shoaib Akhtar was playing when Zahid arrived as did Mohammad Akram - Mohammad Akram was mishandled, he was quick but didn’t receive the chances. Possibly because Waqar and Wasim were also playing at the time and it was a difficult situation.
PakPassion.net: You played against India. What were the conditions like?
Asif Mujtaba: There is no special system or conditions that I can tell you about. There is greater focus on the nation due to the match being against India. On one hand, you have the match going on, and we used to try and win it for the nation – they didn’t want to lose a match against India. It was a match, and you have wins and losses, but for the Indians they were told not to lose the match against Pakistan. It’s a similar situation for both sides. I’m not aware of any conditions in addition to this.
PakPassion.net: Are there any players you were particularly close to during your playing days?
Asif Mujtaba: There were quite a few guys, Shoaib Mohammad, Mansoor Akhtar, Tauseef, Iqbal Qasim during my time. Also, Rashid, Inzamam who were my friends. They were my closest friends as was Basit Ali.
PakPassion.net: Thank you Asif and keep in touch.
Asif Mujtaba: Thank you.
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is the most suitable candidate but the PCB just screws things up.
