ICC Champions Trophy 2017: Mohammad Amir declared fit for final against India

Fit to fire!

What’s the story?

Ahead of the final of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy final against India, Pakistan got a huge boost as their ace fast bowler Mohammad Amir has been declared fit to lead their bowling attack.

The news was confirmed by head coach Mickey Arthur in the pre match press conference on Saturday.  Reports on Friday had emerged that Amir went through the entire training process at the Oval and the team management seems confident about his participation.

The Details

This is going to be a huge positive for Pakistan as ever since his comeback to the game, the left-arm seamer has been a constant presence across all formats for Pakistan. He has played playing 47 out of the side's 57 international matches, across formats, in this period, thus underlying his importance in the team’s scheme of things.

Reports also suggested that Amir was generating some real steam during the training session and this bodes well for Sarfraz and team ahead of the high voltage encounter against India at the Oval.

In case you didn’t know...

Amir had been ruled out of Pakistan’s semi-final clash against Pakistan owing to a back spasm and was replaced in the team by debutant Rumman Raees.

This could have been potentially match-defining but Raees held his own on the big day and along with Hasan Ali emerged as the best bowlers for Pakistan against England as the flamboyant English line-up was restricted to a paltry 211. However, Amir’s worth in the side can never be underestimated as he has been a stellar performer with the ball and was part of a match-defining partnership with captain Sarfraz Ahmed against Sri Lanka when he scored an unbeaten 28. This came after he had picked up 2 wickets with the ball.

What's next?

With Amir fit and raring to go, Pakistan now face a problem of plenty just before the clash. Raees was brilliant with both the new ball and the older one but could make way for Amir who has to be included for his experience and skill level. He could share the new ball with Junaid Khan with Hasan Ali coming on as one change and a fit and firing Pakistan bowling attack can pose some real questions to the Indian batting order.

Author's Take

Although Amir has not yet given full account of his prowess during the tournament, he gave a glimpse of his pedigree in the opening spell against India back during their first clash against India. Also, along with Junaid, Amir becomes a potent force and can trouble any batting order when they are on song both with the new ball and then they have the ability to extract reverse swing if the conditions favour them.