Imam-ul-Haq: “He used to move the ball at his own will, sometimes in and sometimes out”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Imam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan opening batsman, has admitted that fast bowler Mohammad Asif was a very deceptive bowler as he could “move the ball at his own will.”
What made him so difficult to play was the fact that he could swing the ball in or out, which made it incredibly challenging for batsmen to predict what was coming next.
Asif used his ability to generate huge amounts of swing to dismiss many great batsmen over the years. Some of them, including Hashim Amla, Kevin Pietersen, Robin Uthappa and VVS Laxman, even admitted that he was one of the toughest bowlers they faced in their careers.
Having faced the 40-year-old from Sheikhupura in domestic cricket, Imam knows exactly how difficult it is to score off his bowling.
“He used to move the ball at his own will, sometimes in and sometimes out,” he told Cricwick.
Imam recently featured in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup and scored 162 runs in six matches, which included a top score of 70, at an average of 27.
Pakistan began by beating the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before faltering against India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite bouncing back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to advance to the semi-finals.
The men in green ended their campaign on a sour note as England crushed them by 93 runs.
Imam will now be involved in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, which will start on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi