Karachi, Mar 25 : Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Twenty20 carnival by getting a US 650,000 dollars Indian Premier League (IPL) contract at a players' auction in Mumbai last month.

In spite of his injury woes, Asif featured in the IPL players' auction and managed to get a bigger deal than his more illustrious teammate Shoaib Akhtar except Shahid Afridi who got 675,000 dollars contract, is the only Pakistani player to have got a better deal.

Asif has not played any competitive cricket since breaking down with an elbow problem during the home series against South Africa last October.

According to The News, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is yet to clear Asif for next month's home series against Bangladesh that involves five One-day Internationals and a Twenty20 game.

Asif began training a few weeks ago. If he fails to prove his fitness by playing against the Bangladeshis, it would be difficult for him to get an NOC from the PCB to play in the IPL, which gets underway from April 18 and will run for a marathon 44 days.

The PCB has already refused to give him permission to sign up for county stints this year in a bid to save him from injury and burnout.

ANI