Kevin Pietersen Hails Mohammad Asif As The Best Bowler He Ever Faced

Talent? How does one define this six-letter word? How do you decide that a particular batsman or bowler has it in him what it takes to succeed at the International level? Is it the way he or she cover-drives a cricket ball or in case of a bowler, is it the way he/she generates movement both in the air or off the seam or is it the express speed that makes you go- ‘Wow!’?

But, as they say, Talent can be the most useless thing to possess if one doesn’t have the temperament. Talent can open the first door, it can open the second or the (n-1)the door, but it surely won’t open the last door, if a cricketer does not have the attitude and character to get through the tough phases.

Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif remains a prime example of the aforementioned fact. Asif wasn’t your quintessential fast bowler. He wasn’t particularly express when it came to clocking the speedometer but the way in which he moved the ball in the air and especially off the seam, is what made him one of the most complete bowlers of the 21st century.

You ask any batsmen that faced Asif and the first word that you’d hear from them is “Outrageously talented’. Ask Kevin Pietersen and he’ll tell you just how good a bowler Asif was. On Monday, a cricket fan posted a video of Asif bamboozling KP with a vicious delivery during the 2006 Test series in England.

To which KP replied: “I think there are plenty batters around the world that we’re happy he got banned! He was the best I faced! I had no idea against him!”

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This is not the first time that Kevin Pietersen has hailed Mohammad Asif as the best bowler he ever faced in his career.

A few years ago, KP was asked to pick between Dale Steyn and Mohammad Asif as the best fast bowler he had ever encountered by Pak Passion. And, this is what Pietersen said:

“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”- This was Kevin Pietersen’s reply when he was asked whether Mitchell Johnson was the most difficult bowler he faced in his career during an interview with PakPassion.

But sadly the intersection of talent and temperament in Asif’s case was a null set and the prodigiously talented bowler’s career was cut short after he was caught in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal, alongside Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir. Asif was then handed a seven-year ban, and the fans were left ruing over the never-ending question- ‘What could have been?”

Also Read: Brad Hogg Picks Ravindra Jadeja As India’s Greatest Ever Fielder

Watch the video here-

I think there’s plenty batters around the world that were happy he got banned!
He was the best I faced!
I had no idea against him! https://t.co/AoN2xN2oX1

— Kevin Pietersen? (@KP24) April 13, 2020