I Realized That There Was A Lot Of Favoritism And Nepotism In Pakistan Domestic Cricket: Mohammad Asif

Former Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif talked about his return to Pakistan domestic cricket and why he couldn’t make it back into the national team once his ban was over and he returned to the game.

Asif hinted at massive nepotism and favoritism in place in the domestic cricket structure and called it the possible reason why he couldn’t make a comeback into the Pakistan team after his 7-year ban for spot-fixing in England.

Asif was barred from all cricketing activities due to his involvement in spot-fixing during Pakistan’s tour of England. After the restrictions were over, he looked to return to action via domestic cricket. However, he got a negative response from the people around him.

Players Were Being Picked Based On Who They Knew Rather Than How Good They Were: Mohammad Asif

The former fast bowler, once regarded as one of the best exponents of swing and seam, revealed in a chat with PakPassion.net the amount of nepotism in Pakistan domestic cricket and how people hinted to him to give up playing as he would never be back in Pakistan team again.

“After participating in domestic cricket after my return I realised that there was a lot of favoritism and nepotism at play. Players were being picked based on who they knew rather than how good they were. Guys who were scoring 25 runs per innings were being labelled as great hopes and heroes. Bowlers with no performances were being given chance after chance, it was depressing and I knew people were trying to drop a hint to me to give up playing,” Asif was quoted as saying.

Asif had made his Pakistan debut in 2005 and went onto pick up 106 wickets in 23 Tests and 46 scalps in 38 ODIs. He also scalped 13 victims in 11 T20I matches and played in the 2007 T20 World Cup as well. He further mentioned taking up coaching roles for other teams.

“I wanted to continue playing, but I started to think about alternatives to playing and focused on coaching and I was asked to go to Afghanistan for a coaching stint with their young pace bowlers in 2016. However, the security situation meant that I had to decline the offer which was unfortunate as I was really looking forward to working with those youngsters,” he added.

Unfortunately despite his best efforts and performances in the domestic cricket, Asif could never make his return to the international cricket for Pakistan.

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