Wahab Riaz reveals Mohammad Amir is like a 'little brother' to Pakistani players

As Mohammad Amir is gearing up for a return to the scene of his spot-fixing tribulations at Lord’s, his team-mate and fellow pacer Wahab Riaz has stated that the entire Pakistan team will be backing the 24-year-old to succeed in England. Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, Riaz called Amir as a ‘little brother’ to the Pakistani players and promised that his team would react to provocation from the crowd in a sporting manner.

Wahab felt, “So, he is not the one who is being left alone. He is a part of our family. He is the youngest part of our family. So, he is like a kid to us. He's like a brother to us, a son to most of our senior players.”

The senior campaigner was confident of Amir performing well on the grueling tour. He enthused, “We are always here for him. We are going to support him and we will push him up because we know what kind of capability he has in his bowling and how he can perform. With all our support, he will perform very well and Pakistan will do really good in this tour.”

However, a lot that will hinge on how the visitors adapt to the situation and whether they remain composed during moments of crisis. Wahab affirmed, “You can see the laugh on my face. It's going to be the same, it's going to be nothing different. If you enjoy your cricket, you are able to perform. If you take the stress, you are not able to perform.”

He added, “Obviously, you cannot say anything to the crowd. People come there to watch the cricket. They have their own right to celebrate or wish you good luck or wish you bad luck. So, that's not in our hands. We have to enjoy our cricket, we have to laugh all the time. If anyone says anything, a smile can do everything for them.”

Lauding the influence of skipper Misbah ul Haq, the speedster hoped, “Everybody is set to go. Because under the captaincy of Misbah, we are very much united and looking for wins all the time. He is leading us from the front as a captain. This is going to be an important series for us and we are looking forward to winning.”

Pakistan are scheduled to play a couple of practice matches from July 3 in order to get themselves adjusted to the cold and swing-friendly English conditions.