Asif mulls lucrative ICL offer
KARACHI: The Indian Cricket League (ICL) is close to recruiting another high-profile ‘rebel’ from Pakistan as there are indications that suspended fast bowler Mohammad Asif may soon sign a highly lucrative deal with the unofficial league.
Asif, 25, is fighting a possible doping ban after testing positive for banned steroid nandrolone while featuring in the official Indian Premier League (IPL) this May, without receiving any support from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
In sheer frustration and the need to play competitive cricket and make a healthy earning, Asif is expected to sign up to play for the ICL, just weeks after Pakistan’s premier batsman Mohammad Yousuf defected to the cash-rich league.
“I am frustrated,” Asif told cricketnirvana.com. “When no one is coming to my support I have no other option left to join the ICL for which other Pakistani players are also playing. My career has come to a halt and no one is bothering,” he lamented.
Like Yousuf, Asif could also end up playing for the Lahore Badshahs, a team that includes leading Pakistani cricketers like former skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, pacers Rana Naved-ul-Hassan, Mohammad Sami and openers Imran Farhat and Imran Nazir.
Sources close to Asif told ‘The News’ that Asif has offered a contract of nearly one million dollars to play for the ICL for a three-year period.
Meanwhile, Asif’s dope case hearing on November 29 seems to have hit another snag as the lawyer who represented him is now working for IPL.
“The lawyer, Charles Russell, is now working for the IPL and since he has previously been consulted by Asif, this is not acceptable to the Pakistan paceman,” said a source.
Asif was suspended by the PCB after he failed a dope test conducted by the IPL. His B sample also tested positive in August, prompting the IPL drug tribunal to summon him. The first hearing was held on October 30 which was adjourned after Asif’s lawyers Shahid Karim and adviser Dr Michael Graham challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the case.
Meanwhile, the ICL is also eyeing young fast bowler Sohail Khan. The Karachi pacer made his ODI debut early this year but was overlooked for this month’s three-match series against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi.
SOURCE: Asif mulls lucrative ICL offer
