World Cup 2019: Mohammad Amir doubtful for Pakistan’s opener

Pakistan gave an SoS call to Mohammad Amir after getting hammered in an ODI series against England recently. After the hosts made it a routine to score 350 or more in the series, the Men in Green felt the need to bring back old warhorses Amir and Wahab Riaz even though they were not in the reckoning initially.

However, a day before Pakistan launch their World Cup campaign against the West Indies at Trent Bridge on Friday, it was reported that the 27-year-old left-arm seamer is not in perfect shape and has sought more time from the team management before gearing up for the remaining matches in the tournament.

Amir was picked in the Pakistan squad for the England series but he was suspected to be down with chickenpox and retreated to a relative’s residence in England. The seamer though played in the warm-up match against Afghanistan earlier this week in Bristol but went wicketless.

Team management has decided against playing Amir

According to a report in Geo News, Amir has informed head coach Mickey Arthur about his health and the management has decided against playing him in the match against the Caribbeans in Nottingham. Amir came into the World Cup squad in the last moment replacing an out-of-form Faheem Ashraf even though he has picked only five wickets in his last 15 ODIs. Amir has played in 51 ODIs so far picking 60 wickets at an average of around 33.

Besides Amir, Riaz, who hasn’t played an ODI for Pakistan since June 2017, also got a call into the World Cup squad replacing an unfortunate Junaid Khan who missed yet another edition. Riaz had a fabulous show in the quarter-final of the World Cup in 2015 against Australia even though could not give his side a victory. The third change that Pakistan made to their World Cup squad was batsman Asif Ali who came in the place of Abid Ali.

Pakistan’s second match in the tournament is against hosts England at Trent Bridge on June 3. England is playing South Africa in the opening game of the World Cup at the Kennington Oval on Thursday.