The Pakistan captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, has no concerns over the mental state of Mohammad Amir as the fast bowler prepares to step back on to the field where he took part in spot-fixing six years ago.
Amir’s return to Test cricket, after the five-year suspension that resulted from the 2010 spot-fixing scandal, has dominated the buildup to the series opener at Lord’s but Misbah said the 24-year-old left-armer, who looked in top form with four wickets in their warm-up match at Somerset, can cope with the additional scrutiny.
“His mood is good,” said Misbah before training on Wednesday. “He is just focusing on what he has to do in the ground. He is really responding well to that. I hope it’s a big chance for him and that he comes on the field and performs for Pakistan to win people over again. At the moment there are no worries for us.”
Amir is part of a 12-man squad for the tourists and will line up alongside the fellow left-armer Wahab Riaz and the leg-spinner Yasir Shah, plus one of seamer Rahat Ali and Imran Khan, in the bowling attack.
Misbah has spotted a vulnerability in England’s batting in the shape of James Vince’s underwhelming start to his Test career and the return of Gary Ballance.
He said: “When you have two or three batters struggling in the team it could be an area you can exploit but we need to focus on all 11 because England are good in the lower middle order; they can hurt you. Some batsmen are not in good form, which could be a plus for us but we have to be aware of others.”
Misbah is credited with rebuilding Pakistan’s credibility after taking over the captaincy from the disgraced Salman Butt in 2010 but had pondered his own retirement after the 2-0 win over Alastair Cook’s side in the United Arab Emirates last year. The 42-year-old, who failed in his plan to earn an early-summer county deal, instead felt a duty to forge on for what is his first cricket on English soil.
He added: “My retirement is being discussed every series. If I am not discussing it, somebody else is. I could have retired at the end of that England series but so much has been said about this being a tough series and we’ve been playing together the last six years. So I thought I really have to take the initiative and come here, as a captain and a batsman also, to face this challenge.”
While much of the focus has been on Amir – the youngest bowler to take 50 Test wickets before his fall – Pakistan’s trump card could yet prove to be Yasir, who is third in the world rankings after taking 76 wickets in only 12 matches, 15 of which came against England in two Tests last year.
The home side have been using the Lancashire wrist-spinner Matt Parkinson as a training aid in the nets but face a step up in class, with Misbah expecting the 30-year-old Yasir, who took six against Somerset, to thrive.
He said: “Conditions are different but still, the way he bowled in the Somerset game, on these pitches he could really be effective because here you can get drift and sometimes the ball just hurries to the batsman, even off the surface and you’ve got a chance of getting players leg-before and deceive them, off the pitch and in the air. He’s been really bowling well and I think that remains a threat for England.”
