“He made sure I wasn’t in good form a couple of weeks later after playing him”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has faced a plethora of great bowlers over the span of his illustrious career, but who was best bowler he faced?

That honour fell upon Pakistan seamer Mohammad Asif as Pietersen admitted that he had the ability to move the ball in different directions.

Furthermore, Asif removed Pietersen for a golden duck during Pakistan’s meeting with England at The Oval, which is best remembered for Pakistan’s decision to forfeit the match after they were accused of ball tampering.

“The best bowler I faced was Mohammad Asif, the bowler from Pakistan who got done for [spot]-fixing,” Pietersen told the Howie Games podcast. “Probably not a bad thing because he tormented a lot of batters. Just his ability to make a batsman feel like the ball was accelerating off the wicket in different directions.

“If I was in good form, he made sure I wasn’t in good form a couple of weeks later after playing him. If I wasn’t in good form, I knew I wasn’t in good form after playing him for a couple of weeks during a series.”

Asif though was one of three Pakistan players, with the other two being Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir, that were indicted in the spot-fixing scandal in England that rocked the cricketing world in 2010.

Asif was suspended for five years and spent six months in prison for his involvement in the scandal, but he returned to playing domestic cricket in Pakistan in October last year.