Mohammad Amir reveals woes of a fast bowler

Pakistan speedster Mohammad Amir has revealed about the issues face by fast bowlers in modern game, saying that ‘it's really tough for pace bowlers.’

The fast bowler, who returned to international cricket last year, after serving a five year ban was of the view that the advent of Twenty20 format has made the game ‘faster-paced.’

“I think cricket changed a lot during my ban. It became faster-paced and with the rise of the Twenty20 format it meant that cricketers had to be quick-thinkers and more flexible when it came to their approach,” said Amir, in an interview to Sky Sports.

Amir, who took three wickets for his side, including the all-important scalp of Virat Kohli in the Champions Trophy final said that the pacers struggle with pitches that are ‘batsman friendly’ and are not able to extract ‘swing’ from their balls, as well.

“The lack of swing around the world is also a huge change. Pace bowlers are struggling to swing the new ball and the old ball, perhaps due to the type of cricket balls being used these days.”

“In addition wickets have become so batsmen-friendly that it's really tough for pace bowlers to challenge batsmen and that is why games have become so high scoring. There's a lot more cricket being played also nowadays and less time to recover.”