“Even our religion allows and promotes forgiveness and I appeal to the Pakistani nation to forgive Amir for his mistakes and support him now”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Former Pakistan players have expressed their delight after the International Cricket Council (ICC) gave pace bowler Mohammad Amir permission to start playing domestic cricket again.

Amir was banned for five years after he was found guilty of spot-fixing during a Test match against England in 2010.

However, even though Amir’s ban is supposed to end in August 2015, the ICC have allowed him to start playing domestic cricket again since he has shown a high level of remorse.

“He made a mistake at a very young age and I think he has learnt from it. It would not be fair to now stop him from making a comeback,” legendary Pakistan pace bowler Wasim Akram said. “I think he deserves another chance as he was very young when he got involved in this spot-fixing scandal.

“Even our religion allows and promotes forgiveness and I appeal to the Pakistani nation to forgive Amir for his mistakes and support him now.”

Upon hearing the good news, former captain Rashid Latif said: “The ICC anti-corruption has given him this relaxation so it is only fair he plays domestic cricket. Obviously they are differing opinions even in the cricket community in Pakistan about whether Amir should be allowed back into cricket. They are many people who were very hurt by his actions. Only time will tell whether he is able to return to the national team.”

Ex-batsman Mohammad Yousuf added: “I just hope he has come clean on everything and he has learnt his lesson. He is still young and he can do a lot to help other players in domestic cricket stay away from corruption. We will only know whether he is the same player when he resumes playing domestic cricket.”