Sohail Tanveer said his side's bowling attack was good enough to rattle the hosts even without spearhead Mohammad Asif in the ODI cricket series.
NEW DELHI: Undaunted by the presence of heavyweights like Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian line-up, Pakistani seamer Sohail Tanveer said his side's bowling attack was good enough to rattle the hosts even without spearhead Mohammad Asif in the ODI cricket series starting on Monday.
"If you have faith in your abilities then you can achieve anything, no matter how tough the opposition. I cannot afford to be intimidated by big names like Sachin (Tendulkar) and Sourav (Ganguly) and allow their presence to affect my performance," Tanveer, who is on his maiden trip to India and will face the veteran Indians for the first time, said here in a media interaction.
"Definitely we will miss Asif but even without him, I think our bowling is strong enough to trouble any line-up in the world. We have a nice combination of seamers and quickies," he added.
Tanveer, however, admitted that taking wickets on the sub-continental tracks is one of the toughest assignments for a bowler but felt Pakistani bowlers were more likely to do well here, having grown up playing on such pitches back home.
"It is difficult to bowl on the tracks in sub-continent but since we have also played our domestic cricket on such pitches, we are well-prepared for the task," he explained.
Enjoying his first trip to India, the 22-year-old said he was looking forward to the challenge of taking on Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men in their own backyard after the thrilling matches the two sides played in the Twenty20 World Championship.
"There is lot of excitement whenever we play India because of the involvement of the fans. Besides I have always wanted to come to India so cricket has fulfilled that wish of mine. I hope to have good time both on and off the field," Tanveer said.
The left-armer, whose wrong-footed action became a talking point during the Twenty20 World Cup, said even he was amazed as to how strange he appeared while bowling.
"Honestly, I have not developed this action. It is natural. And even I was taken aback a bit when I first saw myself on TV but I never intended to make my action look strange," he grinned.
Excited about opening the attack with Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar, Tanveer said the comeback-pacer would be Pakistan's trump card in the series.
"Shoaib showed that he is in very good form when he took those four wickets against South Africa in the last ODI. He will definitely be a key player for us," he said.
On the Indian attack, Tanveer said the hosts' current bowling line-up was perhaps one of the best in recent times.
"India have a very good bowling line-up. I don't think I have seen a better Indian attack than this. Earlier there used to be one strong bowler but others were mediocre but the current three-four bowlers are all very good," he said.
The young seamer revealed that he grew up idolising pace legend Wasim Akram.
"Wasim bhai have been my hero since childhood. I have learnt a lot from him. I have always tried to emulate him," he said.
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