Tainted Pakistan fast bowler Mohammed Asif has made a stunning claim during a TV interview, alleging that the legendary Waqar Younis cheated to reverse swing a cricket ball. Additionally, Asif claimed Waqar didn’t know how to bowl with the new ball and only learned about it by the time he had entered the final phase of professional cricket career.
Waqar is widely regarded as one of the finest fast bowlers to have played the game and one of the greatest exponents of swing bowling whose searing yorkers are the stuff of cricket folklore. He played 87 Tests and 262 ODIs between 1989 and 2003, taking a combined 789 runs wickets in them while forming a formidable fast bowling partnership with the legendary Wasim Akram.
“Waqar Younis used to cheat with the ball to do reverse swing,” Asif said during an interview with ARY News. “He did not know how to bowl with the new ball in most of his career. He learned a bit about bowling with the new ball in the twilight phase of his career.”
“People know Waqar as a master of reverse swing but he never developed a single bowler who could bowl a perfect reverse swing. These people are in coaching for the last 20 years but they never produced quality bowlers. They lack consistency in making combinations. We have quantity, not quality bowlers,” he added.
The 49-year-old Waqar, after retiring in 2003, dabbled into commentary and coaching and is currently associated with the Pakistan cricket team as their bowling coach.
Asif entered the international arena as a promising paceman, drawing comparisons with the likes of Australia legend Glenn McGrath. However, his career came to a halt in 2010 when alongside fellow fast bowler Mohammad Amir and batsman Salman Butt, he was found to have indulged in spot-fixing.
In 2011, he was banned from playing cricket for seven years. He played 23 Tests, 38 ODIs and 11 T20Is and took 165 wickets in them.