Mohammad Amir feels India is over dependant on Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli Mohammad Amir India Pakistan Cricket — Amir feels the game is half won should the opposition manage to dismiss Kohli cheaply

What's the story?

Pakistan speedster Mohammad Amir feels that the Indian cricket team's fortunes depend largely on how skipper Virat Kohli performs, especially when it comes to chasing targets.

In fact, Amir feels that the opposition can consider the job half done if they manage to dismiss Kohli early.

"Everybody knows if you get Kohli, India is 50% out of the game," Amir said. "Until he is at the crease, India's chances of winning are 70-80%. If you look at his chasing ratio, he is at the top of the world."

Amir, who dismissed Kohli in the 2017 Champions Trophy final which Pakistan won by 180 runs, is hopeful that India and Pakistan resume bilateral ties as it will not only help the the BCCI and PCB from a financial point of view but also help the players develop the art of handling high-pressure situations.

"In India-Pakistan games, your star value increases, on both sides, and cricket benefits, cricket boards benefit," he said. "And your [ability to handle] pressure levels become very strong."

In case you didn't know...

Amir and Kohli share a mutual respect for each other off the field which is heartening to see, but on the field, the two cricketers have been in the thick of the action whenever India and Pakistan have met recently at ICC events.

Amir has impressed in matches against India, picking three wickets in a low-scoring encounter at the 2016 Asia Cup while he also bowled a miserly spell of 1/11 off 4 overs at the 2016 World T20.

Both the above matches ended in favour of India and so did the group stage encounter between India and Pakistan at the 2017 Champions Trophy but it was Amir who had the final laugh as he picked up 3 wickets, including the prized scalp of Kohli, in the final, to help Pakistan lift the coveted trophy.

Extra Cover: Virat Kohli is the biggest challenge for a bowler, says Mohammad Amir

The details

While Amir has managed to reach the heights he achieved as a bowler before his involvement in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal brought his promising career to a halt, he has done pretty well since his comeback considering the time he spent away from the game.

Amir though feels that he has been unlucky at times with a number of catches being dropped off his bowling but expressed his happiness that Kohli's dropped chance in the 2017 Champions Trophy final did not prove costly for his side.

Amir dismissed Kohli off the very next ball and the 25-year-old said that the Pakistan side knew that the game was pretty much in the bag once the Indian skipper headed back to the pavilion.

Amir said that he always feel pumped up when playing against teams like India and Australia as the two sides are really tough to beat and it is highly challenging for a player to try and deliver a performance which will make them a big hit with the fans.

Extra Cover: Too early to compare Kohli with Tendulkar, says Sourav Ganguly

What's next?

While cricket enthusiasts will be hopeful of a quick resolution of the stalemate surrounding bilateral ties between India and Pakistan, the probability of that happening is very slim.

While the ICC's Future Tours Programme does raise the possibility, it is something the BCCI is not too keen on adhering to.

Author's take

While it is fair to say that Kohli is in a class of his own when it comes to modern-day batsmen, Amir might have a bit overboard with his views that India is too reliant on their skipper.