Mickey Arthur: “I wouldn’t imagine Pakistan going to the World T20 without Amir. He is a match-winner. If you leave him out of the fray you potentially are sacrificing [your] chances of winning the tournament”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Former Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur believes that left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir must be picked for the T20 World Cup as he is a “top class bowler and a match-winner”.
Amir recently represented the Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and finished as the joint fourth-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 10 wickets in nine matches at an average of 26.20.
In fact, Arthur, who now coaches Sri Lanka, noted that if Pakistan leave Amir out of their team for the T20 World Cup, they “potentially are sacrificing” their “chances of winning the tournament”, which is scheduled to be held in Australia from October to November.
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“I wouldn’t imagine Pakistan going to the World T20 without Amir. He is a match-winner. If you leave him out of the fray you potentially are sacrificing [your] chances of winning the tournament,” Arthur said in a YouTube video as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Arthur also revealed that Amir “kept me in the loop” when he decided to retire from Test cricket in July last year.
The pair held numerous discussions on the topic and Arthur admitted he could see that Amir “was losing his hunger for Test cricket”.
“Amir spoke to me about it and he kept me in the loop on his decision,” he said. “We discussed it many times. But maybe I was too hard on him playing him in every Test I could. I could see he was losing his hunger for Test cricket and his body was not able to handle the pressure of three formats.
“Amir is a top class bowler and a match-winner. I love to watch him bowl. But by deciding to leave Test cricket I think he has given himself a chance of extending his white ball career.”
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