MELOURNE: Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif said that one day he will lift the lid on his darkest days that saw him tossed out of international cricket after testing positive for drugs in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Asif was banned for a year after he tested positive for banned substance Nandrolone while playing for Delhi Daredevils in the inaugural edition of the IPL in 2008. While returning to Pakistan, he was also detained in Dubai for 19 days after traces of opium were found in his pocket.
In 2006, both Asif and Shoaib Akhtar were pulled out of the Champions Trophy in India after both tested positive for nandrolone during an internal testing. Both had their bans overturned on appeal.
Asif, however says he was unfairly treated and has vowed to one day “tell everything” about his drug dramas. “I had a very strong case, but they didn’t actually listen. Nobody was with me, the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) were on the back foot. I was just alone and had to handle the whole thing,” Asif was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun. “I will tell everything when the time will come. It’s not the right time to tell that. It was a very difficult time for me. There were lots of things in my mind in that time. Sometimes I thought I would not be back.
“That was a tough period, but I continued my training and practicing. Now I am very happy and I am playing good cricket.”
But despite his drug controversies, there is little doubt about his talent. In New Zealand, he was the series” highest wicket taker with 19 scalps at 19.78 in three Tests.
“I feel well and I enjoyed my bowling in New Zealand ... I have improved. I take a lot of top-order wickets,” Asif said.
Having already faced the likes of Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Damien Martyn, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, during his debut series in 2005, Asif is not daunted by facing the current side.
“At the moment Australia is not that much of a hard side. When I started in my first tour of Australia they were a very great side with Hayden and Martyn and Warne and McGrath. At that time it was a great side, now they are just doing good,” he said.
