“For now, I will have to postpone my plan of starring in Blind Love because my first priority has always been cricket and that will always be the case,” Amir tells The Express Tribune. “I can’t wait to hit the ground running by appearing in the competitive first-class circuit and eventually, stepping in international cricket again,” he adds.
His original ban was to end in September 2015, but strong lobbying from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) bore results in his favour. With the ICC amending its anti-corruption laws in a recently concluded board meeting, the 22-year-old is set to gain the maximum out of it. About his stint in the film, Amir had previously said, “In the last couple of years, I had nothing to do. So, when the well-known filmmaker Faisal Bukhari approached me to be a part of the film, I accepted [the offer].”
Amir was busted in the ‘spot-fixing’ case along with teammates Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif after Pakistan’s tour of England in 2010. Consequently, Amir had to spend three months in the young offenders’ institute. “There are positive signs that I’ll be cleared after an ICC meeting in January 2015 to appear in domestic cricket, so my first focus now is to get fit in time,” comments Amir.
It has been more than four years since Amir last played a top-class match, but he claims that he can still bowl at the same speed. “I still have the ability to roll over my arm and bowl over 140km/h. All I need to do is to keep myself fit for the challenges ahead and train as hard as possible for coming weeks,” he said.
Amir represented Pakistan in 14 Test matches and claimed 51 wickets, becoming the youngest bowler to reach 50 Test wickets while he took 25 scalps in 15 ODIs. Amir also helped Pakistan bag the World Twenty20 crown in 2009 and had taken 23 wickets in 18 T20Is before the ban was levied upon him.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2014.
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Go Nawaz Go
Dear Amir, please do concentrate on cricket only because a lot of your time has already been wasted due to a lot of distractions. Still in the early 20's, you have a long way to go in international cricket. Learn from Indians when it comes to the key word 'focus': Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Virat Kohli and many others are clear examples of the dividends focus can pay. On the other hand, Pakistani cricketers have not given 'focus' much consideration. Despite being much more talented, the likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Yousuf, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Inzi and many others remained under achievers.