Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players'Guys scoring 25 runs per innings were being labelled as heroes': Asif on ‘nepotism’ in Pakistan’s domestic cricket
Former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif revealed spoke about ‘nepotism’ in domestic cricket. He also spoke about how the people hinted him to give up playing while he tried to make a comeback.
Former cricketer Mohammad Asif recently opened up about the ‘favouritism’ in Pakistan’s domestic circuit. The former right-arm shared his experience when he returned to his country’s domestic cricket with the hope of making a comeback in the national team after a 7-year-ban.
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.
While speaking in an interview with PakPassion, the former fast bowler revealed spoke about ‘nepotism’ and stated that the people hinted him to give up playing.
“After participating in domestic cricket after my return I realised that there was a lot of favouritism 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.
ALSO READ | Selectors said if you don’t feel comfortable, it’s time for Ricky to go: Clarke
“I wanted to continue playing, but I started to think about alternatives to playing and focussed 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.
After making his international debut in 2005, the former right-arm quick picked up 106 wickets in 23 Tests and 46 scalps in 38 ODIs. He also represented Pakistan in 11 T20Is and picked 13 wickets before his career was cut short. Once he was banned from playing cricket, he never managed to come back into the Pakistan dressing room.
