'English bowlers didn't bowl to him in his weak areas' - Mohammad Asif credits bowlers for Rishabh Pant's century

Former Pakistani pace bowler Mohammad Asif has criticized English bowlers for not bowling well to Indian batter Rishabh Pant in the ongoing Test match between England and India at Edgbaston. Pant scored a sensational century to rescue India from 98/5 to 416 runs in their first innings. He is receiving a lot of praise from the cricketing community for his explosive knock of 146 runs off 111 balls with the help of 20 fours and four sixes.

But Asif feels that Pant did nothing extraordinary and credits England bowlers for his terrific knock. He said that bowlers didn’t target the left-handed batter’s weak area and also pointed out that Pant’s left hand doesn’t work.

“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 on the Twitter video.

– Muhammad Asif about the India batsmen, Kohli & Pant! pic.twitter.com/1gC3Akfanm

— Asif Khan (@mak_asif) July 2, 2022

I am not against Pant: Mohammad Asif

Asif also slammed England for their decision to bring in a left-arm spinner (Jack Leach) to bowl the settled left-handed batting duo Pant and Ravindra Jadeja. Leach took 10 wickets in the last match against New Zealand, five wickets in each inning, but conceded 71 runs with no wicket in his nine overs spell.

“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 added.

India put up 416 runs in their first innings after impressive centuries for Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja. But they need to address the issue of lack of runs from the top order, who failed to score 20 plus runs in the first innings. Former skipper Virat Kohli looked sound but was unfortunate to get out on an inside-edge clean bowled delivery by Matthew Potts. Asif pointed out that Kohli needs to work harder on his technical skills.

“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 concluded.