Kevin Pietersen picks the toughest bowler he ever faced

Out of favour, English batsman Kevin Pietersen has always been in awe of Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif. The veteran pacer has been out of action from international cricket for a long time now. It was back in 2010 during the England tour when Asif was a member of the tainted trio that was involved in the spot-fixing scandal.

He served a 5-year suspension thereafter. Currently, he is plying his trade in domestic cricket in Pakistan but is yet to earn a national call up. Whatever his current plight be, the fact of the matter remains that when Asif bowled in full flow, he was one of the most threatening pace bowlers.

England’s Kevin Pietersen could not agree any more to it. As per the quotes in Pakpassion.net, an interviewer recently asked him who has been the toughest bowler that he has faced. Without taking much time, KP was quick to take Asif’s name. He cited that Asif’s deliveries moved at serious pace.

“The best bowler I faced was Mohammad Asif. The guy from Pakistan who got done for match-fixing and stuff. Probably not a bad thing cos he tormented a lot of batters. Just his ability to make a batsman feel like the ball was accelerating of the wicket in different directions,” quoted Kevin Pietersen.

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The interviewer then mentioned that they expected him to take Mitchell Johnson. KP refuted as he said that Asif had the ability to make him feel being out of form despite in good run. “Nah. Mohammad Asif by a country mile. If I was in good form, he made sure I wasn’t in good form a couple of weeks later after playing him. And if I wasn’t in good form, I definitely knew I wasn’t after playing him a couple of weeks in a series.” conceded the English batsman.