“I will not attend the camp as long as Amir is there”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Pakistan ODI captain Azhar Ali and batsman Mohammad Hafeez have refused to attend the ongoing conditioning camp in Lahore due to the presence of left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir.

Ali made it clear that he did not want to be at the camp due to Amir, while Pakistan’s team manager, Agha Akbar, revealed that Hafeez had decided to follow in Ali’s footsteps.

“I will not attend the camp as long as Amir is there,” Ali said. “This is my decision and we are open to discuss with the PCB. I don’t want to comment on Hafeez’s decision, but we both have the same stance.”

Akbar told ESPNcricinfo: “Both are not joining the training camp today apparently because of Mohammad Amir.”

In November, Hafeez refused to play in the same Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) team as Amir and told ESPNcricinfo that he would not play “with any player who has tarnished and brought a bad name to the country”.

Amir recently completed serving his five-year ban for his involvement in a spot-fixing scandal during a Test match against England in 2010. He also served half of a six-month jail sentence at the Portland Young Offenders Institution in Dorset.