Amir needs domestic success for international return: Younis

Pakistan bowling coach Waqar Younis feels it will be tough for paceman Mohammad Amir to make a comeback to international Cricket without first impressing domestically.

Amir retired from international play last December, saying he was mentally tortured by his teammates and coaches.

The left-arm fast bowler played in the recent Pakistan Super League with minimal success.

He reportedly met with Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Wasim Khan earlier this year, leading to speculation of a return before the Twenty20 World Cup in October.

“No doubt he’s a fine Cricketer, but if he doesn’t want to take his retirement back and impress selectors by playing Cricket, it will be hard,” Younis told reporters via videoconference from England on Monday.

“It’s Pakistan Cricket, it’s not yours or my Cricket (team), you have to do the right things to play for your country. This is not a franchise Cricket and one got to remember that.”

Younis said he was not aware about any meeting between Khan and Amir.

“To be honest I didn’t know about this (meeting),” he said. “He (Khan) is head of the Cricket and he has every right to meet whosoever he wants to see; he went there in his personal capacity and we didn’t know about it.”

Amir played for Karachi Kings in the PSL, but could take only five wickets in 11 matches at an average of 69.80. Karachi was knocked out after losing both of their playoffs.

Amir took 259 wickets across 36 Tests, 61 one-day internationals and 50 T20s.

He was 18 when he was banned in 2010 for five years and jailed for three months for spot-fixing in a test series in England. He was allowed to return to Cricket a few months early and recalled by Pakistan in 2016.

In 2019 he no longer wanted to play Tests, to focus on white-ball Cricket and prolong his international career.

Amir’s last international was in August 2020 in a T20 against England.

Younis is confident: Despite Pakistan bowlers getting less than ideal conditions for preparation ahead of their white-ball series against England, bowling coach Younis is confident they will be ready for the challenge.

The Pakistan team -- which will play three ODIs, starting with the day/night opener in Cardiff on Thursday, and three T20Is -- has been in managed isolation since arrival in the United Kingdom from UAE. Though the players were allowed to train during the isolation period, their preparations were hampered by inclement weather.

“We have been unlucky that the weather is not that good here,” said Younis, the team’s bowling coach.

“The bowlers have responded well with whatever opportunity we got. We did get some outdoor practice and bowlers have done well in that,” Waqar was quoted as saying by cricinfo website.

Pakistan also tried to play intra-squad games, but they were also impacted by weather.

The players had also faced difficulties in adjusting to the weather in United Kingdom as they had reached there from UAE, which was extremely hot.

“We’re coming over from extreme weather [in the UAE, where most of Pakistan’s squad was involved in the PSL] and it’s tough to adjust from four-over cricket (bowling spells) to 10-over cricket. But they are good bowlers and I’m pleased overall. They’re coming from hot weather so we didn’t need any long tune up.”

Pakistan’s bowling in England will be spearheaded by the experienced Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was the third highest wicket-taker in the PSL, and Hasan Ali, who has been their best fast bowler since returning to the squad earlier this year. Though these two have been in good form, there are concerns over the form of Haris

Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain and spinner Shabad Khan, all of whom didn’t had a great PSL.

However, Waqar Younis has “high hopes” that his bowlers will put up a good show against England.

Indo-Asian News Service