Pakistan’s veteran fast bowler Umar Gul reckons Mohammad Amir is the key bowler for Pakistan in the upcoming tour of England and has advised the young bowler to stay calm.
The 24-year old is set to begin his re-entry to Test cricket in Lords next month, a place where he played his last test match in which he was proved guilty of match-fixing back in 2010.
Speaking to PakPassion, he said, “We have an excellent bowling attack for this tour and the pick among the fast bowlers will surely be Mohammad Amir. He will play a key role against England. I expect him to perform very well as he has played in those conditions before.
“Apart from Amir, Sohail Khan has put in some excellent performances before and knows how to bowl in seaming conditions. But don’t forget that in leg-spinner Yasir Shah, Pakistan has an excellent bowler who can take wickets on any kind of surface.”
The 32-year old believes that Amir would be under tremendous pressure and could receive criticism from English media and he believes that Amir should answer them with his bowling skills.
“I am sure the Pakistan management would have spoken to him about it but there is no doubt that Mohammad Amir will face a lot of pressure during the upcoming tour and this is to be expected due to what happened in 2010.
“The British media will be following his every move and I would advise him to let his bowling do the talking. He should restrict his movements from the hotel to the ground and back and simply concentrate on his game and nothing else. This will be the best way to answer all of the criticism and back-talk.”
The Pakistan team is set to play three Tests, five ODIs and one T20I in the tour and Umar Gul has expressed his satisfaction over the team selection. The tour will kick-start with the first Test at Lords on July 14.
“The team selected for the Test series seems to be a good one,” said Gul. “To be honest, no one is really ever satisfied with what selectors choose but in this case, I am happy with the players chosen. This is pretty much similar to the Test team which has proven to be quite successful for a while for Pakistan.”