Mohammad Asif criticizes English bowlers for letting Rishabh Pant score a century in the fifth Test

Rishabh Pant set the stage on fire as he scored a brilliant century in the first innings of the fifth Test against England. He scored 146 runs in just 111 balls to resurrect India after they had lost five wickets early on. The southpaw received a lot of admiration from players and experts all over, but former Pakistani player Mohammad Asif was not impressed.

The pacer criticized English bowlers for failing to bowl well to Rishabh Pant. Asif believes Pant accomplished nothing exceptional and credits England's bowlers for him being able to score freely. He said that bowlers did not target the weak area of the left-handed batter, and that Pant's left hand does not engage in his game.

"It was totally England bowlers’ fault as Pant did no wonders. He has technical faults. His left hand doesn’t work but still, he managed to score a century because English bowlers didn’t bowl to him in his weak areas," Asif said in a Twitter video.

Asif also criticised England for bringing in left-arm spinner Jack Leach to bowl to the settled left-handed batting duo Pant and Ravindra Jadeja. He grabbed 10 wickets against New Zealand, five in each inning, but gave 71 runs with no wickets in his nine overs against India.

"I will not name individuals but England made a lot of mistakes. When Jadeja and Pant were batting, they brought in a left-arm spinner who wasn’t an ideal option to bowl at that moment. I am not against Pant, but with such decisions by the opposition, you get an edge to score big," he added.

- Muhammad Asif about the India batsmen, Kohli & Pant! pic.twitter.com/1gC3Akfanm

— Asif Khan (@mak_asif) July 2, 2022

Mohammad Asif on Virat Kohli

While Pant and Jadeja scored centuries to take India to a score of 416 runs, other Indian batters failed to do much. Former team captain Virat Kohli looked in good touch, but was cleaned by Matty Potts early on. Asif stated that Kohli has to improve his technical skills.

"I pointed out Kohli’s technical fault a couple of years ago but people started calling me out. See today, he hasn’t scored a century for a long time now. I love watching Kohli and even though he is a big player than me. But technically, he needs to work harder," he concluded.