His fall from the grace did not begin with the drug charges in Dubai but much before. It only seemed Mohammed Asif is determined to fall as quickly as he has risen. Unwittingly he has squandered the chances.

He has challenged the report of his blood sample that tested positive for Nandrolone. But friends from Staffordshire league where he played for the B team speak about the fast bowlers mortal habits. So while finding traces of Nandrolone in his blood may be discounted as lack of knowledge or ignorance, what will hold against him is, travelling with opium. Asif has challenged the blood sample report on the basis of inconsistencies in the A and B samples but even the best of legal brains are finding it hard to explain his need to possess .24 grams of opium while on transit. The IPL drugs tribunal will try him for the former offence on 24th January.

And so the 19 day detention in Dubai was yet another blot in a career that saw drugs scandal, fight with a team mate and the unproven vilification of ball-tampering. And if Asif is to reform himself and not waste his gifts, he has to start now. For nine months he has not played cricket for Pakistan. His last series was versus Zimbabwe before the stint with Delhi Daredevils.

His cry for help from the Pakistan Cricket Board to resurrect his career has met with deaf ears. The board is also looking to reopen his case. Asif's emergence in Pakistan Cricket can be traced to the likes of Fazal Mahmood and Sarfaraz Nawaz more than Wasim and Waqar. In addition, he has an alert cricket brain and for Pakistan to lose that would be a real pity. To discuss and debate about bans and drugs and not Asif's line, length, bounce and seam movement would just be undermining the bowler's value and contribution of cricket.

This is not the first time that a cricketer has been mired in such controversies. One of Asif's contemporaries in Pakistan Cricket has meddled in drugs. The menace seems almost incurable in county cricket. And despite being well known for the love of greens, one legend of the game had Knighthood conferred upon him. New Zealand and South Africa too had to tackle the peril of drugs. And if it was for the treatment that Pakistan has doled out to Mohammed Asif, the Kiwis would have lost their best skipper of the age.

And despite Pakistan Cricket's tall claims of educating players, here is a glaring example of a talent being wasted due to utter callousness of the authorities. Lack of education and grooming can be traced to a rot in the system. And perhaps that is what is responsible for Mohammed Asif finding himself in strife than the man himself.

Now after three years of his debut and numerous highs and lows Mohammed Asif is groping in wilderness. Saddled with bills from lawyers, he has sold off his property and car and has landed up in Delhi to have his dues cleared from Daredevils. He was the second highest paid player in IPL after Shahid Afridi, having been picked up by the Delhi Daredevils for US $650,000. However with a court case dangling over him and uncertainty over Pakistanis turning up for the IPL, one may just miss out on the magic of this pacer.

But the loss of Asif will be bigger for Pakistan Cricket…a loss that they are likely to mourn the longest!

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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