There is a distinct Pakistan flavour in the Desert Vipers camp in this year\u2019s edition of the ILT20. With as many as four Pakistan players in their squad, it is no surprise that the Vipers have attracted plenty of eyeballs from fans in a country with a significant South Asian expat population.
\nThis was very much evident when three Desert Vipers stars showed up for a meet and greet with fans at Umbro\u2019s flagship store in Dubai. Mohammad Amir turned out to be particularly popular as a sizable number of fans jostled for autographs and pictures with the players.
\nThe veteran Pakistan pacer has been the Vipers\u2019 stacked bowling attack with aplomb this year and has already racked up 11 wickets in the campaign so far. Amir is no stranger to performing to a high standard in multiple T20 leagues around the globe, but he is especially enjoying the battle in the ILT20.
\n\u201cWhat I like about the ILT20 is the fact that you have nine international players in the playing XI. This is unique to any T20 league in the world. It ensures that the standard is set very high,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cYou have to constantly be on your toes in this league as a bowler because every batter is a seasoned international,\u201d the Pakistan star continued.
\nWhile he has enjoyed bamboozling some quality batters in the ILT20, Amir has also relished the pace partnership with fellow compatriot and left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi. Watching the two southpaws bowl together in tandem after nearly four years has been a treat to many Pakistan fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have enjoyed it,\u201d Amir said of the brief partnership with Afridi before the latter\u2019s early exit from the tournament.
\n\u201cI have always been a believer in bowling being a partnership. Shaheen is a superb bowler. With him, there is a good understanding.
\n\u201cWhen the pitch is playing a particular way, he will tell me exactly what it is doing. Whether it is swinging or if the ball is holding on the surface. And the same goes for me when it comes to passing information about the pitch to him.
\n\u201cIt reduces the pressure on me too, when you know there is a quality pacer bowling from the other end.\u201d
\nAlongside Shaheen, the Vipers camp has also roped in Pakistan\u2019s Shadab Khan and Azam Khan for this year\u2019s edition. They are the first ILT20 franchise to contract players from Pakistan. Amir has loved every minute of his time with his compatriots.
\n\u201cThese are players with whom I have played domestic and international cricket with,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIt has been nearly four years since I have been on the same team as Shadab and Shaheen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have played for different teams in the Pakistan Super League in recent years, so to share the same dressing room is nice.
\n\u201cTo be honest, the dressing room feels like being Pakistan at times,\u201d the 31-year-old added.
\nWith significant Pakistan support behind them, the Desert Vipers and Amir will hope they can pull a rabbit out of their hats and clinch a play-off spot of the ILT20. At the time of writing, they currently sit in the fifth spot in the table with six points from 8 games. The top four teams in the competition progress to the play-offs.
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is a distinct Pakistan flavour in the Desert Vipers camp in this year\u2019s edition of the ILT20. With as many as four Pakistan players in their squad, it is no surprise that the Vipers have attracted plenty of eyeballs from fans in a country with a significant South Asian expat population.
\nThis was very much evident when three Desert Vipers stars showed up for a meet and greet with fans at Umbro\u2019s flagship store in Dubai. Mohammad Amir turned out to be particularly popular as a sizable number of fans jostled for autographs and pictures with the players.
\nThe veteran Pakistan pacer has been the Vipers\u2019 stacked bowling attack with aplomb this year and has already racked up 11 wickets in the campaign so far. Amir is no stranger to performing to a high standard in multiple T20 leagues around the globe, but he is especially enjoying the battle in the ILT20.
\n\u201cWhat I like about the ILT20 is the fact that you have nine international players in the playing XI. This is unique to any T20 league in the world. It ensures that the standard is set very high,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cYou have to constantly be on your toes in this league as a bowler because every batter is a seasoned international,\u201d the Pakistan star continued.
\nWhile he has enjoyed bamboozling some quality batters in the ILT20, Amir has also relished the pace partnership with fellow compatriot and left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi. Watching the two southpaws bowl together in tandem after nearly four years has been a treat to many Pakistan fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have enjoyed it,\u201d Amir said of the brief partnership with Afridi before the latter\u2019s early exit from the tournament.
\n\u201cI have always been a believer in bowling being a partnership. Shaheen is a superb bowler. With him, there is a good understanding.
\n\u201cWhen the pitch is playing a particular way, he will tell me exactly what it is doing. Whether it is swinging or if the ball is holding on the surface. And the same goes for me when it comes to passing information about the pitch to him.
\n\u201cIt reduces the pressure on me too, when you know there is a quality pacer bowling from the other end.\u201d
\nAlongside Shaheen, the Vipers camp has also roped in Pakistan\u2019s Shadab Khan and Azam Khan for this year\u2019s edition. They are the first ILT20 franchise to contract players from Pakistan. Amir has loved every minute of his time with his compatriots.
\n\u201cThese are players with whom I have played domestic and international cricket with,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIt has been nearly four years since I have been on the same team as Shadab and Shaheen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have played for different teams in the Pakistan Super League in recent years, so to share the same dressing room is nice.
\n\u201cTo be honest, the dressing room feels like being Pakistan at times,\u201d the 31-year-old added.
\nWith significant Pakistan support behind them, the Desert Vipers and Amir will hope they can pull a rabbit out of their hats and clinch a play-off spot of the ILT20. At the time of writing, they currently sit in the fifth spot in the table with six points from 8 games. The top four teams in the competition progress to the play-offs.
\n\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\n\u00a0
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=366585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":366586,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366585\/revisions\/366586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=366585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=366585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=366585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}