PAK vs NZ: Not Babar Azam! Mohammad Amir acknowledges this player's role in his Pakistan cricket comeback

Left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir has given the credit for his return to the Pakistan national team for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 to former T20I captain Shaheen Afridi. Amir is among the names that have been called up to the Pakistani team for their T20 series against New Zealand, Ireland, and England before the start of their World Cup campaign from June onwards. Other than Amir, Usman Khan and all-rounder Imad Wasim have also been brought back to the team. 

That is very good news for the Pakistani team, which is back to its basics. And by the term basics, it means that the Green Army's white-ball team is once again under the leadership of star batter Babar Azam. 5 months after his resignation and 3 months after the appointment of Shaheen Afridi, Babar has once again been given the onus of leading the ODI and T20I team. Under the leadership of Babar, the Men in Green will be hoping to have a successful participation in the World Cup. 

Mohammad Amir expresses gratitude to Shaheen and PCB 

While speaking in a latest interview, Mohammad Amir expressed his gratitude to Shaheen Afridi and of course the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for giving him another lifeline with the National side. Amir stated that he is very grateful for this particular opportunity and that he recognizes the trust that has been put in by the management. The 32-year-old also said that he has added pressure over his head to repay the faith shown in him. 

"The credit goes to the management of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Shaheen, they brought me back with trust, and there is some sort of pressure of fulfilling that promise," Amir told a local Pakistani channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan. 

If it wasn't for the fixing charges against him back in 2009-10 and the years that went by because of that, Mohammad Amir would have definitely surpassed all sorts of records. Since his return to the National team back in 2016, Amir received a limited amount of chances with his last appearance for the team coming in 2019 in an ODI match against Sri Lanka. 

Amir had also featured for Pakistan in the 2019 Cricket World Cup edition in England and therein he had 17 wickets from 8 matches. Although he could not help his team reach the semi-finals, Amir showed that he still got the same class as before. 

Amir expresses confidence in his fitness levels 

Mohammad Amir then expressed the confidence he has in his fitness levels and believes that he is in much better shape than he was during the 2019 Cricket World Cup. Amir emphasized the fact that without a good amount of fitness, a cricketer cannot express himself and the same goes for him as well. 

“I think my fitness level is much better than it was in 2019 because I’m feeling fitter than I ever did in recent years. If you are not fit, you cannot express yourself in the ground, no matter how many skills do you have. I believe with the fitness level I have right, I can contribute greatly to the team." - Amir concluded.