Is Shaheen Afridi the new Mohammad Amir?

Former captain Salman Butt feels the Asia Cup encounter against India on Saturday is tilted slightly towards Pakistan owing to non-cricket reasons.

The world No 1 Pakistan will take on India as the two arch rivals meet at Pallekele in a Group A encounter.

“When I say non-cricket reasons, I mean ifs and buts in selection, clarity in plans, available resources and current state of mind,” Butt said in an interview.

“But no doubt, both teams have great credentials and I expect a very good match. If it is a Pakistan and India game, it is no fun if it is a one-sided game,” he said.

Butt said both teams will rely on their key players to fire.

“The performance of key players on particular day is important. You can always expect out of the box performances from someone new but I think (the) key players will count."

“Virat (Kohli) is the sort of a player who, once he settles down, has the ability to also make the other players bat through and he finishes off matches,” he said.

“(The) rest of the team is immensely talented. I am a big fan of Shubman Gill because he plays cricketing shots. I like such players. India's bowling is not weak but some of them are coming back from injuries and some are rusty like Mohammad Shami.”

Butt said he had not seen any bowler with better accuracy than Shaheen Shah Afridi.

“Everyone knows Shaheen will bowl in-swing and he gets wickets regularly. He is a special bowler, he has (got) special trade,” he said.

“He can bowl in-swinging yorkers at pace with the new ball (and) that is his hallmark. I have never seen any bowler bowl with such accuracy in first few overs,” he added.

Butt said the teams should expect the unexpected when it came to the pitch in Pallekele.

“I would love to see some pace in the pitch and also bounce so that we can see quality stroke play,” Butt added.

“Amir had better skill sets”

Butt opined that Mohammad Amir was more gifted than Pakistan's current strike bowler Afridi.

“Amir had better skill sets; he was lethal with both new and old balls. I have no doubt (that) if you look at skill sets and cleverness across all three formats, Amir comes out on top,” Butt said.

“But at the moment, Shaheen is a world class bowler. He is definitely among the very best. (What) he is doing for Pakistan (is something that) no other bowler is doing for his country,” Butt said.

“Shaheen is hitting his peak and showing a lot of maturity, but in his time Amir was a brainy fast bowler and he had all the tricks. And remember, he (Amir) played in an era when there were more quality batsmen in every team including India, Australia or England,” Butt added.

“I am not a fan of going back in time but that is my opinion about Amir and Shaheen,” he said.

Butt termed Naseem Shah as a ‘clever bowler'.

“Naseem can be effective against India. He is a clever bowler, he swings both ways and has nagging length. He is sharp. His attitude is very good. He also adds value as a batter. He has learnt from (Dwayne) Bravo while playing in the Caribbean League,” he said.