The disgraced Pakistan pacer is a classic case of a personality who gets a kick out of notoriety.
It was a cold January morning in 2006. Sheikhupura town, near Lahore, was celebrating Eid. We were at Aaqib Javed’s house, then coach at Pakistan Cricket Board’s Academy at Lahore. In walked a lean, young man. Mohammad Asif was looking dapper
with a shawl around his shoulders over a Pathan suit.
As Aaqib (current Pakistan bowling coach) introduced his ward as a bowler with loads of talent, the first reaction was, ‘hey, you have film star looks’. His friend, who was riding the motorcycle Asif travelled on, immediately requested with folded hands… Bhai, kuch mat bolo isko, bande ka already dimaag mein stardom ke sapne se bhara hua hai. He says, one day he will act in a Bollywood movie… Mahesh Bhatt ka ek picture karna hai’ (Brother, please don’t give him ideas about becoming a film star, his brain is already full of such crazy stardom ideas. He tells us, one day I will act in a Mahesh Bhatt movie).
Last week, his estranged girlfriend Veena Malik revealed another side of Asif in a TV interview, “He told Mohammad Aamer in Australia, teri jitni umar nahin hai, utne mere par court cases chal rahe hai (There are more court cases against me than your age).”
That is Asif for you — flashy and craving for fame — a classic case of a personality who gets a kick out of notoriety. Asif is living his dream of a famous, bad guy, well. After serving dope bans, his role in spot-fixing should help him become a darker character than serial-offender, Shoaib Akhtar.
People close to him, though, refuse to believe Asif can sink to such depths. “He can’t do anything wrong against Pakistan,” his youth coach in Sheikhupura, who did not want to come on record, told DNA.
But the evidence against the Pakistan pace bowler is too damning to ignore. He seems to have been carried away by the bright lights. “I will only say that lalaach bahut buri bala hai (greed is a vice),” the coach said.
“Ho sakta hai woh rasta bhatka ho, paise ki chamak harek ko kheech leti hai. Lalach mein banda kahin na kahin phas jaata hai (it might be that he got carried away, the lure of money has pulled down many. Greed can sometimes get you trapped),” he remarked.
Asif — along with Test captain Salman Butt and teammate Mohammad Aamer — has been suspended by the International Cricket Council pending enquiry for his alleged involvement in spot-fixing.
The Pakistan Cricket Board cannot say they were not warned. Coach Intikhab Alam had put forth his doubtsbefore a PCB inquiry that bookmakers might have been involved in Pakistan’s surprise loss to Australia in Sydney Test earlier this year.
“Pakistan cricket is going through a critical situation. We are all pained and very sad at hearing all these stories. I am sitting with a few of my friends and we are very upset here... We also have wrong people at the PCB, akal ke andhe hai (PCB officials are inept). They don’t take any decisions and do what they feel like,” says the coach.
Experts still cannot fathom how Pakistan lost the Sydney Test after taking a 206-run lead. Chasing 175 for victory, Pakistan lost their last nine wickets for 89 runs, and with it, the match by 36 runs. “It was a big setback, it was such a strange defeat, every Pakistani felt sad and ashamed,” the coach added.
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