Mohammad Asif (Pakistani cricketer)

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Mohammad Asif Pakistan (Pak)

Batting style	Left-hand bat
Bowling type	Right-arm fast-medium
	Tests	ODIs
Matches	6	13
Runs scored	18	9
Batting average	4.50	4.50
100s/50s	-/-	-/-
Top score	12*	6
Balls bowled	1159	634
Wickets	30	14
Bowling average	21.16	29.28
5 wickets in innings	2	-
10 wickets in match	1	N/A
Best bowling	6/44	3/28
Catches/stumpings	2/-	2/-
As of 1 September 2006 Source: Cricinfo.com

There is also an Omani cricketer with this name.

Mohammad Asif (born December 20, 1982 in Sheikhupura) is a Pakistani cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler.

He made his Test match debut in the third Test of the three-match series against Australia in January 2005, where he bowled 18 overs without taking a wicket. He has also played List A and Twenty20 cricket, and has played for Khan Research Labs, the National Bank Quetta, Sheikhupura, and, most recently, Sialkot. His best first-class single-innings bowling figures are 7 for 35, for Sialkot against Multan at the 2004–05 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

In November 2005, Leicestershire announced the signing of Asif for the 2006 season after he had played a game for their second XI in 2004. Leicestershire's chairman Neil Davidson described him as a "bowler with the ability to generate great pace".

Asif returned to the Pakistan Test side in January 2006 for the home tour against India. In the second Test, Asif bowled 34 overs and took the wicket of Yuvraj Singh. It was the third Test in Karachi, however, where Asif would make headlines. After a poor batting display by Pakistan, Asif took 4 for 78 in the first innings, including the wickets of V. V. S. Laxman, Rahul Dravid and, once again, Yuvraj Singh, to help Pakistan take a six-run lead. Asif returned in the second innings with three clean bowled wickets of Virender Sehwag, Laxman, and Sachin Tendulkar to lead Pakistan to a dramatic come-from-behind victory.

Asif followed up his heroics against India in Pakistan's next tour in Sri Lanka, where he took a career-best 11 for 71 in the 2nd Test, in another dramatic come-from-behind victory.

Asif missed the first three Tests in Pakistan's tour to England in the summer of 2006, but returned to the side for the fourth Test and immediately made an impact, picking up four wickets (including Andrew Strauss, Alistair Cook and Paul Collingwood) in the first innings at the Oval, and another in the second (Marcus Trescothick).

Many cricket analysts feel that Asif's ability to consistently pitch the ball in the corridor of uncertainty, combined with his ability to move the ball sharply off the surface, makes him one of the most promising bowlers in world cricket today, with some even touting him as the next Sarfraz Nawaz & Pakistan answer to legendary Australian paceman Glenn McGrath.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Drug Scandal

On October 16, 2006, Asif was suspended by the PCB, along with Shoaib Akhtar, and has been pulled from the Champions Trophy^[1] after the pair failed drug tests for the performance-enhancing substance nandrolone [1].

England batsman Andrew Strauss said the news had rocked cricket. Speaking on BBC Radio Five Live, he said: "When drugs are used in any sport it is not a great day for that sport and this not a great day for cricket." [2] Pakistan captain Inzamam ul Haq had also previously complained about both Asif's and Shoaib's drug abuse but was not acted upon by the PCB.[3] According to some Pakistani sources, PCB management had caught the two players red handed using drugs during Pakistan tour of England and National Training Academy at Lahore; however, the matter was resolved after their apology to the team management.[4]

An uncredited article on the Rediff website has recently claimed that Mohammad Asif as well as Shoaib Akhtar and Waqar Younis were also seen smoking cannabis after Pakistan's win in the third one-day match at Rose Bowl in Southampton, during Pakistan's 2006 England tour, according to an eyewitness who was at the hotel to meet the players that day. [5]

On 1 November 2006, the PCB handed down a two-year suspension to Shoaib Akhtar and a one-year suspension to Mohammad Asif, banning them from professional cricket for the duration. [6] Both Asif and Shoaib have been added to Pakistan Olympic Association list of doping offenders.[7] The tribunal set to investigate steroid use revealed that Asif had been using a protein supplement, Promax-50.[8] The panel is reported to have shown a degree of leniency to Asif as they believe that he did not understand what he was taking and stopped at the request of the physiotherapist. Asif is set to appeal against the ban.

Mohammad Asif have been acquitted by the tribunal appointed to review their drug ban appeal. The decision was made two to one with Hasib Ahsan and Justice Fakhruddin Ebrahim in favour of the acquittal.

"This appeal committee [therefore] holds that Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif will not be deemed to have committed a doping offence," Ibrahim said. "The ban and punishment imposed by the earlier tribunal is hereby set aside as being contrary to the provision of laws."

Shoaib, banned for two years, and Asif, for one year, appealed after they were found guilty for testing positive for the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone in dope tests that were internally conducted by the PCB at the end of September. However, on December 5, 2006, he had his ban overturned on appeal. [Source: Cricinfo.com]

[edit] "Picked on" due to Religion

On 6 December 2006 Asif complained to BBC Asian Network that the Pakistan cricket team face an anti-muslim bias. He first suggested that being Islamic means the team runs into problems. He was then asked by the program presenter if he feels the team are "picked on". He replied "Yeah treatment is going to be different because we know that there is a religion problem and other problems." However he did not give any specific examples of such problems. [9]