Rumman Raees: “He is the bowler whom the likes of Amla, Pietersen, De Villiers, Graeme Smith, everyone has faced difficulties against him”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Rumman Raees pointed out Pakistan swing maestro Mohammad Asif was such an unplayable fast bowler that elite cricketers such as South Africa’s AB de Villiers and England’s Kevin Pietersen struggled against him.
De Villiers and Pietersen have both spoken about how much trouble Asif caused for them with his impeccable line and length as it consistently tested their batting technique.
Raees noted that other top batsmen such as the South African duo of Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith also had little clue when they had to battle against the 40-year-old.
“He is the bowler whom the likes of Amla, Pietersen, De Villiers, Graeme Smith, everyone has faced difficulties against him,” he said on Daniyal Sheikh’s podcast as quoted by Cricwick.
Pakistan have been in great form lately as they cruised to a 2-0 series Test series win over Sri Lanka before whitewashing Afghanistan 3-0 in an ODI series.
They are now playing in the Asia Cup, where they started their campaign with a dominant 238-run win over Nepal.
In their match against India, they had to share one point apiece as the game was rained off after the men in blue were bowled out for 266.
Despite this, Pakistan qualified for the Super Fours and continued to impress as they thumped Bangladesh by seven wickets in Lahore.
Pakistan’s next match will be against India on September 10 in Colombo.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup:Â Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr.
Travelling reserve: Tayyab Tahir