Kevin Pietersen picks Mohammad Asif as the best bowler he has ever faced

What’s the story?

A dynamic batsman with the ability to change gears with ease, Kevin Pietersen dominated most bowlers across the world during his career in the English colours, one which tailed off after a series of differences with his Board. Out of the various attacks he has played against, he has picked Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif as the best bowler that he has ever faced.

"The best bowler I faced was Mohammad Asif, the bowler from Pakistan who got done for (spot)-fixing. Probably not a bad thing because he tormented a lot of batters. Just his ability to make a batsman feel that 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,” quipped the former England skipper.

In case you didn’t know…

The 36-year-old batsman, who was born in South Africa, made a move to England in 2000 and thrived as a domestic cricketer in Nottinghamshire. One of the brightest talents to have made a mark at the international level in the 2000s, Pietersen grew from strength to strength as the years progressed, turning into a world class batsman by the turn of this decade before a tumultuous relationship with the ECB brought a jolting stop to his career.

Mohammad Asif, on the other hand, saw his world fall right in front of his eyes when he was accused of spot-fixing after an investigation in 2010 and was banned for a period of five years, the same year he became no. 2 in the Test bowling rankings.

The heart of the matter

In five Tests, Asif accounted for Pietersen just two times, once in 2006, and the last time during the tainted 2010 series. Incidentally, the 2006 dismissal was Asif’s very first in international cricket. He had the same success rate against the batsman in ODIs as well, snaring him twice in five matches. Tha Pakistani pacer also dismissed Pietersen once in a T20I in 2006.

While having a conversation with Howie Games podcast, Pietersen conceded that Asif’s ability to jag the ball and achieve movement edged him “a country mile” ahead of the best bowlers of that time, including Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan.

Although he chose Asif as the toughest bowler, Australian speedster Peter Siddle had the distinction of claiming Pietersen’s wicket the most number of times in Tests, picking up the right-hander 10 times in 17 matches.

Pietersen added that Asif had the ability to make the batsman believe that the ball was “accelerating off the surface”, be it any condition or pitch.

What next?

While the chances of Pietersen’s international career having a reboot look grim, Asif is slowly finding his way back into the game, having returned to the domestic fold in October last year with the hopes of clawing back into the Pakistani side.

He represented the Water and Power Development Authority during the Quaid-e-Azam trophy last year, and has been allowed to play all three formats henceforth by the ICC.

Sportskeeda’s take

Pietersen isn’t the only modern great who found Asif as a tough opponent in the recent past. AB De Villiers had also conceded that the Pakistani pacer was one of the trickiest customers with the ball in international cricket.

It is sad that Asif, who was a sensation during his initial years with the Pakistani team, and was rated highly by his peers, ended achieving much less than what he promised. With Mohammad Amir’s successful comeback last year, it’ll be interesting to see if Asif, who is a decade older than Amir, can return to the Pakistan team again.