Wahab feels that apart from skipper and opening batsman Alastair Cook and No. 3 Joe Root, the rest of the batting comprising youngsters Gary Ballance, James Vince will find it hard to handle Pakistan’s fiery bowling.
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The second Test at Old Trafford starts on July 22.
Root has been promoted one place up the order following former number three Nick Compton’s decision to take time out from cricket following a poor series against Sri Lanka.
‘I’m looking forward to it, ‘ said Root about his elevation.
“What has happened has gone now, it has gone a long way now so I think the best thing is that he can perform well”, Wahab said.
“The way they’ve dealt with it has been really good and it’s given me time to get my head around it”. “I would expect Pakistan’s bowlers to pitch the ball up and take it away from him, posting three slips and a gully, while keeping open point, mid-off and extra cover to encourage the drive. He’s learnt a lot of things, he’s very skilful as well – he knows about his bowling and has a lot of knowledge about cricket”.
But Yorkshire’s director of cricket, Martyn Moxon, was more cautionary, saying: “Gary’s got a bit of a tight groin which he sustained on Friday in the T20 against Birmingham”.
“Having seen the way Amir has bowled at Taunton, we need to get in the right frame of mind, because he can do us some damage. We will make sure that we get both Cook and Root out so that we can put the pressure on the middle order”. I don’t want to speak for him but he will be disappointed he is not in the squad.
“I tend to disagree a little bit because I’ve always felt that Pakistan has a bad history of fixing and all that kind of stuff”, said Raja, a member of the MCC World Cricket Committee which met at Lord’s on Tuesday.
Who will play a decisive role during the Pak-England series?
Mohammad Amir’s fairytale comeback after a five-year ban from Cricket still remained a matter of controversy, with former England offspinner Graeme Swann questioning the fast bowler’s morality.
There was a sense of shock and anger among cricket fans, although in Amir’s case there was also an overwhelming sense of sadness that an 18-year-old should have become caught up in such a scandal.
With a bowling attack led by the left-arm pace duo of Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz, and complemented by the attacking legspin of Yasir Shah, the first Test is arguably Pakistan’s best opportunity to land a telling blow in a four-Test series that their captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, last week identified as their “biggest challenge”. “Everybody is supporting him – we are all behind him”. “It was frustration and he tried to take out on me”.
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“He was very foolish indeed, misled by senior players, and I think there has to be a gradation in guilt”.
