Pakistan contemplate Amir's return to national squad

Back from exile, Mohammed Amir is in contention for the national side

Mohammed Amir, once Pakistan’s young sensation, is back in contention for selection into the National side, if one has to go by the PCB chief Shahryar Khan’s words. The 23-year-old pacer had been suspended from all forms of cricket by the ICC following his involvement in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal.

These words of Shahryar would not be easy to implement, to be honest, as different people have different reservations against Amir, with the former captain Mohammed Hafeez having publicly refused to share a dressing room that has Amir in it.

"We are considering Mohammad Amir," Shahryar said after meeting with head coach Waqar Younis and chief selector Haroon Rasheed at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. "I have to call senior players and Amir and tell Amir that there should be modesty and humility in him.”

“People will look to him. It looks like he has performed well over the last four-five months and is knocking on the door for us to consider him. If coach and selectors decide that he has to come, we will ask the board of governors before taking a decision on him."

Since being cleared by the ICC to compete in all forms of cricket in September, there has been a lot of brouhaha over Amir being allowed to practice his profession again. The debate has been hung over the contentious issue of trust.

While many believe that after having served his punishment, he deserves a head-start and has the right to return to his profession, others are of the opinion that a person maligned with such a blasphemous activity, shouldn’t be given a second chance.

Amir, though, since his return in January, hasn’t taken much time to attain top gear, as is evident from his current Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) performances. He has taken 11 wickets in 8 matches at 14.45 in the T20 tournament.

That said, Pakistan are in a dire need of having a settled limited-overs side, given that the World T20 in India is not very far away. This calls for an end to experimentation as Pakistan have had four debutants over the course of the recently concluded England series – Iftikar Ahmed and Zafar Gohar in the ODIs, and Rafatullah Mohammed and Aamir Yameen in the T20s.

Pakistan have been in dibby-dobly form after the World Cup, as they have beaten Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in away series, but lost to Bangladesh in Bangladesh, and to England at their adopted home, the UAE.

"You need to have consistency of selection with the World Twenty20 coming up. The time for experiments is over," Shahryar said. "Don't do experiments and look at T20 championship. Continuity is very important and there is no room for experimentation any more. I have full confidence in selection committee and the coach.”

Given the context, and the need to have a balanced side before the World T20, backed up Amir’s performances since his return, PCB have got a tricky task in their hands. As to how does in unfold, only time will tell.