By the time the 26 players were announced for the national training camp for the New Zealand series, Amir’s name being in the midst raised very few eyebrows. PHOTO: AFP
The six inches that Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif deliberately overstepped set Pakistan cricket miles back; miles that the country’s most popular sport is yet to recover.
2015 saw the end of the bans of the fast-bowling duo, along with then skipper Salman Butt, yet events of five years past continue to haunt the hallways of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
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On January 29, Amir was allowed to return to domestic competition just over six months before the end of his five-year ban. Behind the scenes, Amir had helped the International Cricket Council (ICC) fight corruption and his active role helped further cultivate his image of ‘a good kid who made a few mistakes’.
Six months later, on September 2, ICC announced that Asif and Salman were also free to play again — with the remaining two and five years, respectively, of their bans suspended.
Of the trio, Amir was always the most likely to return to the international fold. Still young, still a darling of many who continue to harbour a soft corner for him and most importantly still arguably the most gifted bowler in Pakistan, if not in the entire world.
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And when he impressed in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy qualifiers as well as in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), it became a matter of when rather than if. By the time the 26 players were announced for the national training camp set up in preparation for the New Zealand series, Amir’s name being in the midst raised very few eyebrows.
But those six inches were not yet done haunting Amir and Pakistan cricket as a whole. Former skipper Mohammad Hafeez and current ODI captain Azhar Ali both refused to train alongside him.
The seeds of discord had been planted long before Hafeez and Azhar decided to skip camp.
Hafeez had previously revealed that he had turned down the opportunity to sign for Amir’s BPL side Chittagong Vikings as he did not want to share a dressing room with the tainted pacer. Amir had responded by promptly claiming his wicket when he faced the right-handed batsman in the T20 competition.
Hafeez, Azhar face disciplinary action over Amir boycott: PCB
Sensing a damaging divide that could tear the dressing room apart if allowed to fester, PCB’s top officials, including chairman Shaharyar Khan, intervened and managed to convince Azhar and Hafeez to end their protest and join the camp.
Amir reportedly broke down into tears and asked for the duo to forgive him, even volunteering to leave the camp if his presence is harming the camp and the team’s unity; upon which Hafeez hugged him and told him all was forgiven.
The damage, though, has surely been done. The team stands precariously on the brink of a full blown civil war. And the board may yet have to make a choice between its prodigal son and its veterans, between talent — sheer and mercurial — and solid reliability. The future, and even the identity, of the hallowed green of Pakistan may come to be defined by those six inches; yet to be gotten over, yet to be traversed.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 29th, 2015.
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