Amir to play key role, says Harbhajan

MANCHESTER: Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh has termed Mohammad Amir an important factor for Pakistan ahead of the much-awaited, high-voltage World Cup game between India and Pakistan.

“I feel that Pakistan will depend much on Amir and other fast bowlers. If they can manage to take early wickets against India then it will be easy for them to restrict India by 250. Anything above 300 can be difficult for Pakistan. Babar Azam is a good player, I love to see him playing as he has proper technique. Your openers are very good too,” said Harbhajan told Geo News.

The former cricketer said that Pakistan vs India is always a pressure game and there can’t be a bigger contest in the tournament than seeing the two rivals from the sub-continent taking on each other.

He also warned India against taking the unpredictable Pakistan lightly in the tournament.

“It will be a pressure game, when I used to play Pakistan it had some top-class players and it is always a pressure game, World Cup or without World Cup. Although Pakistan is not too strong as it used to be but still it will be a pressure match. Pakistan is an unpredictable team, they defeated England — one of the favourite teams — so no one can take Pakistan lightly,” he said.

“I just hope that weather allows a full 50-over game because everyone wants to see this match, India vs Pakistan game is true flavour of World Cup. If it gets washed out everyone will be disappointed.”

He also said that the match is very important for Pakistan to win, specially to stay alive in the tournament and they’ve the opportunity to change the record against India on Sunday.

“Pakistan needs to win this game to stay alive in World Cup as well and if Pakistan is out of race then it will be very sad news for all the cricket fans.”