Mohammad Amir refutes reports of coming out of international retirement

Pakistan’s premier pacer Mohammad Amir has made it clear that he is not going to come out of retirement and don the national jersey again. The left-arm speedster had announced his shocking retirement from international cricket back in December 2020 and also justified his decision by saying that he was ill-treated by the team management back then that consisted of head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis.

On April 11, it was reported that Amir might return to the national side provided the current Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja leaves his position. Najam Sethi is expected to succeed Raja after the fall of the ruling PTI government where Prime Minister Imran Khan was relieved of his duties following a no-confidence motion against him.

No intention of returning, says Amir

According to reports in Cricket Pakistan, “Mohammad Amir has denied reports of taking back retirement, saying he is not thinking of anything in this regard”. The 29-year-old also said that “he has no intention of returning to international cricket”. The report further states that Amir is keeping himself engaged by participating in various franchise leagues and also spending a quality amount of time with his family.

The tearaway fast bowler had announced his retirement from Test cricket in July 2019 at the age of 27 for which he received a lot of criticism from his predecessors Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar. Some critics had reportedly said that the left-arm speedster decided to quit red-ball cricket to give more weightage to franchise cricket.

Amir represented Pakistan in 36 Tests, 61 One Day Internationals, and 50 T20Is where he has picked up 119, 81, and, 59 wickets respectively. He had bowled a match-winning spell during the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 final against arch-rivals India at the Oval where he accounted for the Men in Blue’s top order including the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Shikhar Dhawan. Courtesy of his excellent bowling, Pakistan managed to bundle out India for just 158 and win the Champions Trophy.