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| Who is to be blamed for Mohammad Asif’s latest injury? |
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Sunday, May 18, 2008
KARACHI: What do you do when your key fast bowler gets injured? You get him treated from the best in the sports medicine business without caring about the expense. You make sure that he goes through a proper rehabilitation programme and you try to minimise the chances of a recurrence of the injury.
But you do one thing more if you happen to be the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). You allow your main strike bowler, who is quite injury-prone, to feature in a cash-rich league happening next door barely days after he is passed as ‘fit’ by doctors.
That is what seems to have happened in the case of Mohammad Asif, who is now regarded by most as Pakistan’s pace spearhead.
‘The News’ has learnt through well-placed sources that senior PCB officials were initially unsure whether to release Asif for the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Sheikhupura-born Asif was signed by Delhi Daredevils for US$650,000 (some 4.25 crore Pak rupees) and according to a PCB official, he was ‘naturally very keen to play’ in the league.
After Asif was cleared by medical experts, the Board left the option of playing in the IPL up to the player, who just jumped at the opportunity.
Now it seems that the PCB acted unwisely in allowing Asif to in the league as the bowler has once again sustained an injury.
Asif missed international action for almost six months after a recurring elbow injury dogged him last October and forced him out of several matches during the home series against South Africa last October and more importantly the entire tour of India in November-December 2007.
His injury was serious enough for the PCB’s team of doctors to recommend that the bowler be sent to Australia for further check-ups and later Asif had to undergo key-hole surgery in Sydney last December. Asif was asked to rest for a few weeks and later went through a rehabilitation programme run by trainers on the PCB pay-roll.
In the process, Asif also missed the five-match One-day International series against Zimbabwe at home early this year and was also overlooked for the initial part of the ODI series against Bangladesh in April.
At that time, the sane thing for the PCB to do was to keep Asif from competitive cricket for a few more weeks. Pakistan may not have any Tests to play this year, but they have two important ODI assignments — Asia Cup (June-July) and the ICC Champions Trophy (September) — in 2009. Both contests are supposed to be held on home soil.
In April, a senior PCB official confided in ‘The News’ that Asif will not be fielded against Bangladesh in a bid to give him more time to become fully match fit before the Asia Cup.
But just a few days after that conversation, Asif was included in the Pakistan squad for the fourth and fifth ODIs against Bangladesh. Asif made his international return by taking 2-35 in Multan and later finished with figures of 3-35 in the final match in Karachi. But his performances hardly mattered for Pakistan who would have completed the 5-0 whitewash even without him.
But for Asif, those two games were very important. He had to justify his inclusion in the IPL by playing against Bangladesh.
Before the series, national selectors were quite convinced that Asif shouldn’t play against Bangladesh. After learning that he would be overlooked for the ODI series, Asif met with a top PCB official to discuss his international return.
According to Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s Chief Operating Officer, Asif came to him seeking advise whether or not to play in the IPL.
“I told him that if he had even a little doubt then he should not go,” Naghmi told this correspondent. “I told him ‘don’t sacrifice your career’,” he added.
But after a few days, Asif declared himself fully fit and the PCB asked its medical experts to examine his fitness.
“Our doctors cleared him as fully fit but we decided to seek second opinion as well,” said Naghmi.
The Board sent the MRI reports of the bowler’s elbow injury to medical experts in Shaukat Khanum Hospital (Lahore) and Agha Khan Hospital (Karachi). “Both the specialists confirmed that Asif’s injury had healed.”
But Naghmi admitted that the Board didn’t seek an expert opinion from the Australian specialist, who treated the injury.
“We got confirmations from several local experts and then the player himself insisted that he was fully fit so we had to clear him (for the IPL),” he said.
But the Board could have been more careful. After all it had spent millions on the training and treatment of the player. Now there is a question mark on the fitness of Pakistan’s best pacer at a time when they are aiming to win the Asia Cup and Champions Trophy titles.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
