Pakistan had posted quite challenging target of 338 in 50 overs for India, in the final of Champions Trophy 2017.
Still, ordinary Pakistani fans would have been quite worried about the result seeing the record of Indian top order and past results of such Indo-Pak encounters.
Indian top order which had Rohit, Dhawan and Kohli, had scored 70% of Indian scores of in that Champions Trophy while India chased totals as big as 350 comprehensively.
Muhammad Amir was Pakistan’s big gun whose swing threatened Indian top order. The formula to win for India was to avoid Amir with new ball; runs would have been easy to score after that. Amir started with two out swingers against Rohit Sharma, giving an indication that Amir’s inswing might not be working.
On his 3rd ball of the first over, Amir’s delivery came back and touched the front pad of Sharma, forcing him to go back to the pavilion. Amir continued bowling and almost got Virat Kohli caught at slip.
He had not waited much for Kohli’s scalp as Kohli edged the very next delivery towards point fielder, looking for an in swing off Amir. Shikhar Dhawan became Amir’s 3rd wicket of that historical spell of great swing bowling against India in the final of CT2017 at Lord’s.
Dhawan had edged a cross seam delivery of Muhammad Amir to wicket keeper Sarfraz. Amir took extraordinary figures of 3/16 in his 6 overs, playing a key role in Pakistan’s 180 runs massive victory over India, claiming the title of Champions Trophy 2017 as well. In the tournament, Amir got 5 wickets in 4 games, with an economy rate of 4.41 and average of 30.20. He was 9th overall while most economical bowler from Pakistan after Hasan Ali in that tournament.
This was something which was he wanted to do after his wrongdoings in the same city in 2010, a time when he was much younger, almost 18, and world found itself on its feet while seeing him bowl with great swing and seam, reminding the world of the miracles of the great Wasim Akram.
Amir was spotted in a local tape ball tournament in a village of Gujar Khan. His bowling was so impressive that in no time, he found himself training in a local cricket academy in Rawalpindi.
In 2007 at the age of 15, he made his first-class debut. An injury in 2008 delayed his international debut but selectors selected him for 2009 T20 world cup where he took Ravi Bopara’s wicket on his second ball. He went on to bowl a crucial spell against Sri Lanka in the final, playing central role in Pakistan’s win and claim of the title.
Soon he was found in white dress as well where he bowled Sri Lankan skipper Kunar Sangakkara in both innings in his debut test. He took his first five in Melbourne against Australia, taking wickets of giants like Ponting, Clarke and Mike Hussey.
Amir set a record of taking 5 wickets in an over in a T20 game against Australia in a losing cause. He was first player to take 3 wickets in an over of a T20 game. Amir played a key role in Pakistan’s victory over Australia in the second of the two match test series, country’s first test victory over Kangroes in 15 years.
In the series against England in the summer of 2010, he was the highest wicket taker from Pakistan with 19 scalps. He got 2 five and a man of the match award as well, which he received with a lot of fame.
It was the time when international cricket experts and players had started praising his bowling. But it’s said that good days don’t last long, it was true in his case because during the 4th and final test of the series, a newspaper of Britain accused him of being involved in a spot fixing scandal, alongside with his skipper and fellow pacer, Salman Butt and Muhammad Asif.
Investigations were carried out as well as Amir himself confessed for the crime which resulted in his ban from international cricket for half a decade. Asif was banned for 7 while Salman Butt for 10 years, which meant Pakistan lost its prime pacers’ duo for the next two world cups.
In 2015, Amir made his domestic cricket comeback and featured in BPL 2015 as well. He was soon drafted into the national side for T20s against New Zealand in New Zealand. He bowled brilliant spell of swing and seam bowling against India in the first match of Asia Cup 2016.
In T20 World Cup 2016, his swing and use of short delivery made him much more important for the national team than Muhammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan or Sohail Tanvir.
It looked as if management has gotten used to of him in no time as he bowled most number of deliveries for Pakistan in 2016. He kept swinging the ball in all 3 formats and wasn’t given any break, although he needed that.
Management should have taken care of his work load since his muscles weren’t used to of such heavy work load. At the end of the day, someone with little knowledge of health and fitness issues would suggest the same but it looked as if Pakistan management wanted to take work of past 5 years out of him as well.
As a result, sooner after the champions trophy of 2017, Amir lost his speed, swing and rhythm. He was heavily criticized when Indian openers played him for fun in the opening overs of a group match.
Even people who always backed him in the past, started saying that it wasn’t Muhammad Amir of the past as his speedy was dropped, swing heavily lost and he looked off colour in the entire 2018.
Management was also forced to drop him from the side, instead of working with him and giving rest of one or two series. Pakistan management is notorious for its ill-treatment of players since stars of the past like Junaid Khan, Muhammad Irfan and Umer Gul were also treated in the similar fashion which resulted in the ends of their international cricket careers.
Pakistan side-lined Amir and Wahab from their initial 15 members World Cup 2019 squad but included both of them after disappointing outings of Junaid Khan and Fahim Ashraf.
Amir came back much stronger as he got his first Odi’s five against Australia and took overall 17 wickets in 8 matches. He was the highest wicket taker from Pakistan in 2019 World Cup while the same being his first world cup as well.
Sooner after the 2019 World Cup, Amir declared his retirement from test cricket. In interviews, he told Journalists that after successive appearances in his first 2 years of comeback, his body has gotten weaker and he lost speed, swing and rhythm as a result. The weakness was identified by the doctors and experts as well so it was better to leave test cricket instead of ending his career in 2 years.
His decision wasn’t appreciated by the Pakistan cricket team management as Waqar Younis accused him of weakening the bowling attack for the tough outing like Australia.
The backup strength or weakness is the responsibility of the management but the defeat against Kangroes infuriated the current head coach of Pakistan. Others like Shoaib Akhtar accused him of diverting his focus towards leagues which were available to other players as well who don’t play test cricket.
At the end of the day, nobody can deny the fact that Amir’s body didn’t suit the long format of the game anymore. He was given a second chance by whole world but people started calling him cheater and deceitful.
Pakistan management is also accused by Amir of ill-treatment of him. The allegation is backed by many other cricketers as well. Shoaib Malik is the most recent example who criticized Misbah lead management heavily for the defeat against Zimbabwe.
Amir announced his retirement from international cricket in December 2020 and declared that he has no intention to represent Pakistan under current management.
As of the recent updates about Muhammad Amir, he has applied for British citizenship which means he will not be a Pakistani player anymore. This will allow him to play leagues around the globe, including Indian Premium domestic tournament IPL as well.
Pakistan cricket board would prefer more important things like arranging a successful PSL6 instead of negotiating with the 28 years old fast bowler who still has the potential to play at his peak in white ball for another 7 years and can still threaten opposition’s ranks with his swing and rhythm.
As PCB has no mood to try to stop Muhammad Amir from leaving Pakistan and it fully backs its current team management, it looks as if Pakistan will realize very late that what have they lost just because of ill-treatment of team management and alleged selfish nature of the current bowling coach Waqar Younus.
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