Mohammad Amir has been unlucky after his return to international cricket, says Shahid Afridi

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir, who is widely considered as one of the best pace bowlers in world cricket, had to overcome major obstacles to make his return to the international fray. The 6 ft 2″ bowler was banned for 5 years after he got entwined in a match-fixing scandal.

However, despite making a comeback the left-hander has struggled to find his rhythm and has remained ‘unlucky’ when it comes to taking wickets. These were the views expressed by Pakistan’s former captain, Shahid Khan Afridi. The all-rounder, however, opined that Amir’s re-entry into the circuit after serving an absence of five years, was an achievement in itself and the fast bowler will continue to improve with the passage of time.

Speaking to PakPassion, Afridi said, “Any bowler will feel more confident when he is taking wickets but he has been unlucky as quite a few catches have been dropped off his bowling.”

He added, “As a captain, I supported him in as much as I could but the fact is that the weight of expectations on his shoulder remains very high to this day… Regardless of all these factors, this is the same Amir we had before except that now he is more mature as a person as well as a bowler. His performance in this year’s county season was excellent  and I am sure he is improving.”

The players received a ban of 5 and 10 years

Rewinding time to 7 years back, a number of no-balls bowled during the fourth Test match between England and Pakistan in 2010 at the hallowed turf of Lord’s, threw open a can of worms, which sadly, changed the way our favourite sport has been viewed ever since.

Three Pakistan international cricketers, namely Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Amir were caught accepting a few thousand pounds to underperform. The national cricket team was convicted of taking bribes from a bookmaker Mazhar Majeed. In response to these allegations, Scotland Yard arrested Majeed on the charge of match-fixing and the ICC banned the three cricketers for terms of  5 and 10 years.