By IANS
New Delhi : Pakistan medium pacer Rao Iftikhar Anjum said Saturday that he does not feel any added pressure at the prospect of playing arch rivals India.
“I don’t have any pressure on me in this series. I have played against Yuvraj (Singh), (Robin) Uthappa and other players of the current Indian team. So I am well aware of their style and hopefully it would be a good series,” said the 26-year-old Iftikhar during a media interaction here.
The bowler was part of the Pakistan team that lost to India in the Twenty20 World Cup in Johannesburg.
Iftikhar is one of the additions to Pakistan’s seemingly endless production line of pace bowlers and is more of a line and length bowler. He can bowl reverse-swing – a prerequisite for Pakistani bowlers, when the ball gets a bit rougher, with good control over his yorkers.
“I am happy with the way I bowl. I am not an express fast bowler like Shoaib or Asif but I am more of a line and length bowler. My aim is to give no room to the batsman and contain them in the middle overs. And in the way if I get some wickets it is always good,” said Iftikhar, who has played 35 one-day internationals and featured in one Test match so far.
When asked which Indian batsman would be his target during the series, he said: “I can’t point out any single batsman. The only thing I want to tell is that Indian batting is always good and they have proved it too.”
Iftikhar also added that the game has changed very much over time and it is very important for bowlers to have a variation.
“It is very important for a bowler to have variation in his style. Earlier, 250 was a winning target but now even a score of above 400 is achievable. So every bowler should work on his style and try to bowl different kinds of deliveries,” he said.
Iftikhar said that the new change in the ODIs of replacing the ball after 35 overs was in favour of the batsman.
“These rules make the one-dayers heavily favoured towards the batsman. We can’t do the reverse swing. But we can’t cry also as it is the same for both the teams,” he said.