Mohammad Amir fined for verbal assault after retaliating to being called "thief"

Amir flipped after being called a “thief” by Faisal Iqbal

Pakistan left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Amir was fined 150% of his match fee after he got involved in a verbal spat with Faisal Iqbal who had called him a “thief”, ESPNCricinfo reports. The incident happened when the 23-year-old was playing for Sui Southern Gas Corporation against Pakistan International Airlines in a qualifying fixture of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in Faisalabad on Thursday.

Amir, who is hoping of making a comeback to the Pakistan national team having served out the five-year ban imposed by the ICC on him, along with Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, has been performing exceedingly well in domestic cricket and has picked up 27 wickets in three matches of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy so far.

This incident, however, is sure to bring unwanted attention on the speedster as he tries to steer clear of any off-field issues. According to reports, the duo of Amir and Iqbal had been sledging each other for quite some time before things got ugly after the latter allegedly decided to remind Amir of his past deeds.

"Apparently Amir was sledging Faisal and some other PIA team players during the match and at one stage the situation got out of hand and the latter reminded him of his deeds and called him a 'Chor' (thief)," a source said, as reported by NDTV Sports. “This is the first time that Amir has been reminded of his spot fixing deeds in domestic cricket since he was allowed to resume playing domestic cricket by the ICC and Pakistan cricket board this year."

The source further added that Amir had retorted by advising the opposition player to stop relying on his uncle, the legendary Javed Miandad, as means to secure a place in the team.

“He said that Amir had retorted back by advising Faisal to stop relying on his uncle (Javed Miandad) and to play cricket on his own,” the source said.

The remark or the whole incident for that matter didn’t go down well with the match referee who decided to take action against both players involved but was more harsh on Amir who he felt had initiated the spat.

"Amir was penalised for violating the code of conduct," a PCB spokesman told ESPNcricinfo. "He was fined 50 and 100% for two difference offences. He was found to be sledging around and later was found exchanging crude language with PIA batsman Faisal Iqbal. The batsman has also been fined 50% of his match for engaging in (an) exchange of harsh words in between them."