Dubai: The UAE’s run-machine Asif Khan felt working on his fitness helped him continue his scoring spree in the domestic circuit this season.
“If you are 100 per cent fit, then you will be able to perform very well,” the player of the CBFS powered Fancode Twenty20 tournament. Incidentally, Asif also bagged the best player award in the Emirates D10 and D50 tournaments, rounding off his impressive feat in all three formats of the game.
He had scored 300-plus runs in seven matches for InterGlobe Marine in their victorious run at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium recently. InterGlobe were ably assisted by international players Imran Tahir and Mohammad Amir in their earlier rounds.
Rubbing shoulders with stars is nothing new to Asif, who had also played alongside Kamran Akmal, Misbah Ul Haq, Imran Farhat and Wahab Riaz during his time in Pakistan where he had played for Pakistan A, Pakistan Under-19 and Lahore apart from playing in minor leagues in Lancashire.
Asif has been training with the UAE national team and he is only a month away from completing his eligibility period to represent the UAE.
“I dream of playing for the UAE and I am ready to serve the team in all the formats as I am performing in all formats,” said the 31-year-old batter, who had scored 500-plus runs in six matches in the Emirates D50 competition.
How could he adapt to three different formats with ease?
“When I played first class cricket in Pakistan, I have played in four-day, one-day and Twenty20 contests. So I know how to adapt my game depending on situations. In T10 it’s not a big deal as it is likely to be batting-friendly pitch, so you could play your shots. In 50-over matches sometimes the ball will seam and swing so you can’t play your natural game.”
Though one get the inclination of his natural instincts, when asked what is your natural game? The answer came back like a shot from the middle of the bat.
“To attack. It doesn’t matter which format I am playing in, I would like to go on the attack,” he added.
Bigger challenges
Asif, a cricketer by profession, is getting ready for the UAE call-up and trains hard for the bigger challenges that lay ahead of him.
“I train four hours a day, which also involves 30 minutes of warm-up, 1-hour fielding, 1-hour batting and 30 minutes of ground training,” Asif said who stays closer to the Sharjah Cricket Stadium to cut down on the travel time.
“I just play cricket as it becomes difficult to work and play. With a day job you can’t perform to the best of your abilities and there is a lot of difference in the fitness levels if one does both,” said Asif, adding “UAE coach Robin Singh and our trainer Azhar helped me a lot to improve my fitness.”
Like a true batter that he is, Asif is waiting patiently to take a fresh guard and start a new innings for the UAE, who are already flying high with an impressive run against Oman in the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 over the last few days.
