LONDON: Former Pakistani paceman Muhammad Asif has revealed that he is training regularly to keep himself fit. He has also been helping his legal team to finalise his appeal against his two convictions at the Southwark Crown Court that relate to spot-fixing allegations.
Muhammad Asif, who after having served just half of his 12 months prison sentence walked to freedom from a UK prison a month ago. He was speaking to Geo News in an exclusive along with Ravi Sukul of Balham Chambers, who has taken Asif’s case to the Court of Appeal.
Asif remains determined to clear his name and play again for Pakistan. “I am training regularly these days. I spend a lot of time speaking to my family on the phone and over the internet. I am hopeful that I will play for Pakistan as I played before.”
Asif laughed off at the rumours in some Pakistani media that he had applied for political asylum in Britain. “There is no question of applying for political asylum in Britain. Those who run away from Pakistan apply for asylum. I want to return to Pakistan as soon as possible. I intend to return to Pakistan and play for my country,” he stressed.
The former ace player revealed that he was able to spend the last few weeks assisting his lawyer Ravi Sukul of Balham Chambers with the preparation of the final grounds for appeal the two convictions.
Speaking about the help provided by his legal team at the SJS Solicitors, Asif remarked: “I am very happy with the way my legal team has dealt with my case. They have done a good job on my appeal papers.”
Asif has been granted permission by the Home Office to remain in the UK to assist in the progression of both his appeal against conviction and his appeal against the ICC ban.
Speaking to Geo News, Ravi Sukul and Savita Sukul of SJS Solicitors both confirmed that Asif’s application to appeal against his convictions is being considered by the Court of Appeal and his appeal against the ICC ban is to follow.
Asif has always maintained his original defence that he did not bowl the no ball deliberately nor accepted any money unlawfully. The pace bowler was convicted last November on two conspiracy charges.
Ravi Sukul suggested that Asif’s appeal against those two convictions is based upon mistakes made by the judge during the trial. The mistakes, according to Ravi Sukul, are related to some of the Judge’s decisions and the explanation he gave to the jury about the evidence the prosecution brought against Asif. This correspondent understands that the judge did not explain the conspiracy offence accurately to the jury which consisted of 12 members of public.
The appeal papers focus on the fact that the marked “corrupt” money was found in the hotel rooms occupied by Salman Butt and Mohammed Amir but none was found in Asif’s room. The bowler’s side contends that why would the spot-fixer pay off Butt and Amir and not pay Asif when they were all staying at the same hotel and were all in that hotel supposedly at the time of the pay-off.
That ground leads to another question which is that if Asif did not bowl the no ball for money why did he bowl it in the first place? Asif has been persistent that the fact he bowled the predicted no ball is unrelated to any agreement he had with anyone and that he had no knowledge of what was going on.
Asif’s legal team is anxious to point out at the Court of Appeal that Asif’s margin of no ball was measured at close to two inches over the bowler’s line but no fast bowler was called to answer about the ability of a skilled fast bowler to deliberately bowl a specified no ball to such a tight margin. If that delivery was so crucial, says the defence, where is the logic in bowling it at such a slim margin and run the risk that the umpire may not see it, as they do so often.
