Waqar Younis on Mohammad Amir: “It hurt at that time when he decided to retire from Test cricket but we have to move on and do what is best for the country”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Legendary Pakistan seamer and current bowling coach Waqar Younis has admitted that left-arm pace bowler Mohammad Amir hurt a lot of people when he announced his Test retirement last year.
However, with Amir set to join the Pakistan team in England, Waqar noted that “we have to move on and do what is best for the country”.
Waqar also made it clear that Amir remains in Pakistan’s plans for the future and added that the 28-year-old has the ability to be a match-winner.
[socialpoll id=”2666042″]
“Amir remains part of our plans for the future as he is experienced. We want to utilise him if he is up to the mark, if he can win matches for Pakistan. Next year we have the World Cup,” Waqar was quoted as saying by mykhel.com.
“It hurt at that time when he decided to retire from Test cricket but we have to move on and do what is best for the country.
“We called Amir because he is part of our white-ball cricket plans. And if we felt this was the ideal opportunity to assess all our bowlers going forward. It is not about this series but also about future commitments including the World Cups coming up.
“We want to see how he is bowling as we want to get a fair idea of which bowlers to take forward and assess them all.”
Amir was called up to join the team in England after his daughter was born early and he made himself available. He has since tested negative for the coronavirus (COVID-19) and is set to replace fellow seamer Haris Rauf, who tested positive for the virus again.
Amir will now be moved to a bio-secure environment in Lahore, where his second test will be conducted.
Should he test negative again, Amir is likely to travel to England on the weekend.
The Pakistan team is currently in Derby, but will travel to Manchester on August 1 prior to the start of the Test series.
Pakistan are scheduled to play three Tests and three T20 Internationals against England, with the first Test starting on August 5 in Manchester and the T20 series beginning on August 28 at the same venue.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Imam-ul-Haq reveals why he cried in the shower for hours
[socialpoll id=”2663148″]