Asif wants to resume his international career as soon as possible
Disgraced Pakistan pace bowler Mohammad Asif has announced that he will pursue an appeal against the seven-year ban given to him by the International Cricket Council (ICC) after being found guilty of match-fixing.
Asif was jailed by a London court last November after being found guilty of conspiring to cheat and accept bribes for deliberately bowling no-balls during Pakistan’s Test match against England at Lord’s in 2010.
However, Asif was sentenced to prison along with two of his team-mates, who were former captain Salman Butt and pace bowler Mohammad Aamir.
Aamir and Butt were also handed down five-year bans by the ICC.
Asif made his appeal at the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but stated that it was on hold since there are still criminal proceedings against him in England.
Speaking exclusively to AFP, Asif said: “I had filed the appeal when I was banned by the ICC (in February 2011) and now I have decided to pursue my appeal through my counsel Ravi Gill and hope that a date is given to me very soon.”
Asif has been in the media spotlight in the past, but always for negative reasons, especially in 2006 and 2008 when he failed a drug test.
The disgraced pace bowler was also detained at Dubai airport for 19 days in June 2008 after being found in possession of a banned drug.
Asif states that he was practising hard, and even played a club match in England, where he took a hat-trick and won the Man of the Match award, which he hopes will allow him to earn his spot back on the Pakistan roster.
“I hope that I will get a fair result from the CAS and then hopefully able to revive my career, if I don’t get an early date then I will return to Pakistan and whenever I get a date then I will go to Switzerland. It has been a tough period, without cricket and away from home but I am sure its going to be over soon,” Asif said.
Asif took 106 Test wickets, 46 ODI wickets and 13 Twenty20 International wickets throughout his career with Pakistan.