KARACHI: Cleared from a one-year doping ban, Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif believes he is fit enough to make a comeback in the national side for the upcoming assignments and said is awaiting the Twenty20 tournament to show his form and fitness.“I am fit enough to play all form of cricket as I continued my training even during the whole doping episode and will show it in the Twenty20 Cup,” said the lanky fast bowler in an interview to a local website on Wednesday.
Mohammad Asif had his one-year ban overruled earlier this month by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Appellate Committee along with Shoaib Akhtar who was cleared from a two-year ban.
Both the bowlers were called back from India during the International Cricket Councils (ICCs) Champions Trophy last October after being tested positive for banned steroid nandrolone and were handed bans on November 1 by a PCB assigned tribunal.
On clearance of his ban, Asif who will turn 24 on Dec 20 said that he knew he was innocent and was very happy to get exonerated from the doping scandal.
He said he is working hard on his fitness and undergoes daily training for at least four hours at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore under coaching of former Test bowlers Waqar Younis and Aqib Javed.
The Sheikhupura-based pacer said he is looking forward for the Twenty20 Cup that will underway from Dec 21 at Karachi to prove his fitness for the comeback in national side.
“I will play in the upcoming Twenty20 tournament to show my form and fitness to the national selectors and then it will up to them to consider me or not,” Asif who has 30 wickets from six Test matches said.
He said he would try his best to give good performance in the Twenty20 Cup in order to get his place in the national side for the upcoming tour of South Africa and next year’s World Cup.
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