Pakistan's fast bowlers are 17-18 years old only on paper; really 27-28: Mohammad Asif

Former Pakistan seamer Mohammad Asif has alleged that the cricket team's current pacers are 9 to 10 years older than what their birth certificates suggest. Asif's remarks came in the wake of Pakistan's 101-run defeat against New Zealand in the first Test in Mount Maunganui this week. Asif feels the issues regarding their age is the reason behind their inability to bowl longer spells.

'These kids do not have the knowledge'

"They are so aged. It is written as 17-18 years on paper, but they are actually 27-28 years old," Asif said on Kamran Akmal's YouTube channel but did not take any names. "They don't have the flexibility to bowl 20-25 overs. They don't know how to bend the body and they become stiff after a while. They are not able to stand on the field after bowling a 5-6 over spell," he added.

Asif's career in competitive cricket came to an end after he was banned by the ICC for five years for indulging in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal in England. Mohammad Asif is also disappointed by the present crop of fast bowlers in the national team, which was once dominated by legends such as Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan.

"I feel it might have been 5-6 years since a fast bowler took 10 wickets in a match. We used to salivate after seeing the pitches like the ones in New Zealand. There was no question of leaving the ball as a fast bowler. I never used to leave the ball before taking a five-wicket haul."

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"These kids do not have the knowledge. They don't know how to keep the batsmen on the front foot, not give them a single and how to bowl on the wickets. When they try to bowl on the wickets, it goes down the leg-side. They do not have the control," Asif said.

Among the current lot of Pakistan pacers doing duty in New Zealand, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah are 20 and 17-year-old respectively. Mohammad Abbas is 30 and Faheem Ashraf is 26. Age fraud has been one of the issues troubling Pakistan cricket for many years. Earlier, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was ruled out from the second Test against New Zealand. In Babar's absence, Mohammad Rizwan, who captained Pakistan in the first Test, will continue to lead the side.

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(With inputs from agencies)