KARACHI - He has already got three lucrative offers from English counties after his exploits in India recently but Pakistan's rising left-arm pacer, Junaid Khan, is currently only focused on making an impact in the Test series in South Africa.
Before the national team's departure for South Africa on Sunday, Junaid said he would decide on the offers only after he gets clearance from the PCB. "At the moment I am just focusing on the coming Test series because South Africa is the number one Test side and their batsmen are formidable on their own grounds," he said.
Junaid, who created a stir on the recent tour to India with his ability to get the ball to swing both ways, said he knew that success in South Africa would boost his career in a big way. "I see this series as my first real big test because until now I have played mainly in UAE, Sri Lanka or India. This is my first tour to South Africa so obviously it is a big challenge," he said.
Junaid said he had a lot of respect for batsmen like Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and Ab de Villiers. "But when I bowl to them it will be to get them out as soon as possible. I have spent a lot of time with our analyst studying their videos and the coaches have also been giving me feedback. One thing is clear a pacer has to take advantage of the bounce in South Africa."
Junaid said that tips from Wasim Akram had proved extremely helpful in India. "I have been consulting Wasim bhai for the South Africa tour as well. Because traditionally I know that our pace attack has to do well there if we are to win the series," he said. The youngster said it was a great learning process for him to bowl to the top Indian batsmen on Indian pitches.

"These are two very challenging back to back series for me," he said. Surrey and Sussex are among the counties interested in signing up Junaid.