Pathan is the next superstar: Langer

Irfan Pathan may be out from cricket for a while due to a side strain but the youngster can take heart from the accolades that have been flowing in ever since he made his debut in Australia last year.

Australian opening batsman Justin Langer, on Wednesday, termed the left arm fast bowler as the "next superstar of international cricket". 

Also Read Letter from Langer

"The noise at the [Chepauk] stadium as we [the openers] went in was mind-blowing. And I took the first strike, with young Pathan coming in to bowl the first ball of the morning. It was like I had worn my headphones and all the people in the stadium were screaming into it," he said of the opening day of the second Test in Chennai that ended in a draw. 

The Australian team is on a week-long break between the second and third Test, which will commence in Nagpur on October 26. 

Away from the wicket, Langer, with a crisp white shirt replacing the cricket flannels, created as much excitement during the inauguration of the Bulaire Champagne diamond collection in Mumbai. 

"The one thing we have come to know is that in India you can expect a lot of photographs and a lot of autographs," he remarked. 

"Australia is a huge, huge country. And not many realize it, but there really aren't enough people there. There are these immense spaces, where you think no human being has ever been before. When you come to India, there are just so many people around you. 

"I still have to get over the number of people here, and the traffic. India is all about the noise and people and action. That's why its such an overwhelming experience playing here," said Langer, talking about the great diversity between the two countries. 

The left-hander, sporting a plastic bangle given to him by his seven-year-old daughter as a good luck charm for the Indian tour, said that the contest between the two teams is developing into an arm wrestle and the pressure on both sides is immense. 

"In Test cricket, there is not greater pressure than when these two nations meet." 

Langer added that though the decisive day was rained off, the four days that he played at Chepauk were the "most intense conditions" his team has ever played in. 

Placed tenth in Australia's all-time highest run scorers in Test cricket, he said that apart from hard work, "vision, discipline and the wisdom to live in the present moment" were the pillars of his success.