If a Pakistan cricketer performs against India, his star value goes up: Mohammad Amir

New Delhi: Arguably cricket's greatest rivalries, India vs Pakistan draws attention that even the Ashes fails to match, and cricketers from both the countries know that fans will put them on a pedestal if they manage to pull-off a match-winning performance against the archrival. The latest to experience that was Fakhar Zaman, who hit a century in Pakistan's win in the Champions Trophy final against India earlier this year; and his team-mate Mohammad Amir didn't hold back to say it as a fact in as many words.   

"As a Pakistani, you know everyone is thinking that if you can perform against India, your star value, your cricketing value, image and reputation goes up big time, from nowhere to very high. Even if you haven’t done anything in five games against other teams but manage to do something against India in one match, then it evens up all your performances in a year,” Amir, Pakistan's leading fast bowler, said talking to ESPNCricinfo.

Estranged political relations mean that bilateral ties between the two nations remain suspended, and the only time fans can savour the rivalry on a cricket pitch is during multi-team tournaments at neutral venues. 

Amir went on to add that playing against India and Australia raises his energy level.

“There are two teams against whom my energy is always very high: India and Australia. I get a real boost that I want to do something against them. It is natural because they are two tough teams, very tough teams.

"Against India, sure, there is that edge. You perform against them, it is something that stays with you an entire career like ‘Amir did this against India, or that’. If you look at Saeed (Anwar) bhai’s 194, everyone remembers it till today (because) it came against India. In India-Pakistan games, your star value increases, on both sides, and cricket benefits, cricket boards benefit. And your (ability to handle) pressure levels become very strong.

He then dropped a hint advocating resumption of India-Pakistan cricket ties.

“These are pressure games, not about skills, I’ve always believed that. If you play against each other regularly, under all that pressure, you become so good at handling it that in other games, with lesser pressure, it doesn’t bother you, because you’ve gone through such big pressure. So you should have these games,” he said.