Mohammad Amir: “I have retired now, how am I hopeful for my return? If I hadn’t retired, I could have said that I am very hopeful, but now I have retired. Now I have grown old, and there are youngsters in the team”
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Mohammad Amir, the left-arm fast bowler, has confirmed that he will remain retired from international cricket as he has “grown old.”
He said he has no hope of making a return and pointed out that he will face stiff competition from a number of up-and-coming youngsters.
The 31-year-old from Gujjar Khan was once considered to be the next big thing in Pakistan cricket, but his promising career was left in tatters after he was indicted in the 2010 spot-fixing scandal that shocked the cricketing world to its core.
Even though Amir managed to play for Pakistan again after returning from his five-year ban, he eventually announced his international retirement in December 2020.
Since then, he has been playing in T20 leagues all around the world.
“I have retired now, how am I hopeful for my return? If I hadn’t retired, I could have said that I am very hopeful, but now I have retired. Now I have grown old, and there are youngsters in the team,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Amir is currently representing the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and has taken nine wickets in six matches at an average of 18 and an economy rate of 7.04.
The Pakistan team have done well lately as they beat Sri Lanka 2-0 in a Test series before taking down Afghanistan 3-0 in an ODI series.
Right now, they are involved in the Asia Cup, where they thrashed Nepal by 238 runs, shared one point apiece with India after rain ruined their match, and demolished Bangladesh by seven wickets. However, their brilliant start was sullied when they lost their Super Four game to India by 228 runs.
The men in green will now look to get their campaign back on track when they face Sri Lanka on September 14 in Colombo.
Should they win, Pakistan will face off against India in the Asia Cup final on September 17 in Colombo.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan.
Travelling reserve: Tayyab Tahir
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