Mohammad Asif decodes pace sensation Mohammad Abbas' success

Mohammad Asif might be away from international cricket, but Pakistan seem to have found the perfect replacement to the erstwhile champion paceman in Mohammad Abbas. Their records after they grabbed 50 Test wickets also look almost identical. Pakistan is a nation that has produced some of the sport’s best fast bowlers, and Abbas seems to be their latest bowling superstar.

Although they were playing an inexperienced Australian team in the 2-match Test series in the UAE, the Pakistanis made a mockery of Tim Paine‘s side. It was the spinners who did the bulk of the damage in the first Test in Dubai, but Usman Khawaja’s gritty century enforced a draw.

Abbas, however, was in the background, finishing the game with 7 wickets to his name. In the second Test, however, he took centre stage, tearing through Australia’s middle order. Bagging a five-for in each innings of the Abu Dhabi Test, Abbas finished the series with a whopping 17 wickets. His career average of 15.64 is the best for any bower with 50-plus wickets in the last 100 years.

Close on the heels of becoming the joint second-fastest Pakistani to 50 Test wickets, fast bowler Mohammad Abbas rose 11 places to No. 3 in the bowling rankings. Only James Anderson (899 points) and Kagiso Rabada (882) are ahead of him. This prompted Mohammad Asif to share a valuable piece of advice to his fellow countryman, which could help him further assert his dominance in Test cricket.

Abbas needs to add outswing into his arsenal

Speaking to Sky Sports, Asif said, “There is no doubt that Abbas did well in the UAE where he bowled wicket-to-wicket and did not give time to the batsmen to adjust. This was probably the reason they could not play him that well,” he said. “However, at the moment, he is relying mainly on inswing and he will need to also add outswing into his arsenal as I did not see much evidence of that in the Test series against Australia.”

“But he is a good learner and is always asking me for advice on improvements to his bowling and I will be speaking to him again soon about what else he can do to become an even better bowler,” he added.

Abbas also credited his success to Asif. His bowling has drawn many parallels with Asif’s techniques and results, and the latter was pleased to see him make good use of the advice he’d parted with him.

“I was a little taken aback but felt honoured when Abbas mentioned me as an influence on his bowling when he could have easily mentioned the likes of the legendary Wasim Akram. What I am really pleased with, though, is the fact that Abbas has been taking my advice ever since the days he played alongside me in first-class cricket for Khan Research Laboratories. I am happy that he continues to be a hard-working bowler and is also making good use of what he learnt from me and taken on board the advice I gave him,” he concluded.

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