Pakistan fast bowlers are 17-18 years on paper, but they are actually 27-28, reckons Mohammad Asif

Former Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif reckons that the current bunch of Pakistan fast bowlers are older than what their age suggests. Asif, who last played for the national team back in 2010, stated that the bowlers, who are aged 17-18 years on paper are around 10 years older.

At the present point in time, Mohammad Hasnain, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Muhammad Musa Khan are the ones, either in their teenage days or in their early 20s. Asif expressed his views as he feels that the bowlers don’t have the ability to bowl long spells.

They don’t know how to bend the body, says Mohammad Asif

Asif put forth his opinions while speaking to wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal on the latter’s YouTube channel. “And they are so aged. It is written as 17-18 years on paper, but they are actually 27-28 years old because they don’t have the flexibility to bowl 20-25 overs.

“They don’t know how to bend the body; they become stiff. They are not able to stand on the field after bowling a 5-6 over spell,” Asif told.

Asif said that the current pacers have strained to pick up wickets at regular intervals and have been found wanting even in bowler-friendly conditions. The 38-year-old quipped that the bowlers haven’t exhibited enough control and have sprayed the ball down the leg-side far too often.

“I feel it might have been 5-6 years since a fast bowler took 10 wickets in a match. We used to salivate after seeing the pitches like the ones in New Zealand. There was no question of leaving the ball as a fast bowler. I never used to leave the ball before taking a five-wicket haul,” he stated.

“These kids do not have the knowledge. They don’t know how to keep the batsman on the front foot, not give them a single and how to bowl on the wickets. When they try to bowl on the wickets, it goes down the leg-side. They do not have the control,” Asif added.

Though Asif’s career was short-lived due to the spot-fixing scandal at the Lord’s, with 106 wickets from 23 Tests, he was effective in the longest format. Also, in 38 ODIs and 11 T20Is, the speedster picked up 46 and 13 wickets respectively.