Amir’s presence will help young bowlers on England tour: Waqar Younis

Pakistan’s bowling coach Waqar Younis believes that pacer Mohammad Amir’s presence, during England tour, will help the young bowlers in the squad.

Amir was included in the Pakistan squad as a replacement for rookie pacer Haris Rauf, after the latter repeatedly tested positive for Covid-19.

“Amir remains part of our plans for the future as he is experienced. We want to utilise him if he is up to the mark, if he can win matches for Pakistan. Next year we have the World Cup,” Waqar said in an online media interaction. “The young bowlers will learn from him.”

“It hurt at that time when he decided to retire from Test cricket but we have to move on and do what is best for the country,” he added.

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Waqar added that the left-armer was part of the Men in Green’s plans, bearing in mind the team’s future limited-overs commitments.

“We called Amir because he is part of our white ball cricket plans. And if we felt this was the ideal opportunity to assess all our bowlers going forward. It is not about this series but also about future commitments including the World Cups coming up,” he said.

The Pakistan bowling great also praised the national side’s fitness standards.

“Virat Kohli has an outstanding fitness level but our players, like Shaheen Afridi and Babar Azam, are also right up there in this regard,” he said.

Old Trafford will host the first Test of the series starting on Wednesday August 5. The final two Tests will be played at the Rose Bowl from Thursday, August 13 and Friday, August 21.

The three T20Is will take place at Old Trafford on Friday, August 28, Sunday, August 30 and the final match of the tour on Tuesday, September 1.