Mohammad Amir Reveals Players Feel Scared To Ask For A Break, Fearing They Might Be Dropped

Pakistan left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir has expressed his unhappiness due to the mindset of living in apprehension and not having the freedom to speak out. Mohammad Amir, who has had a controversy-laden career, has not been at his very best since his return from a five-year ban due to his involvement in spot-fixing. The 28-year old revealed feeling nervous asking for a break from the team management as there were fears of getting dropped.

Mohammad Amir had to cop plenty of criticism for his decision to retire from Test cricket last year to prolong his career. Amir retired from red-ball cricket along with another left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz, who could still wear the whites again. The left-arm speedster made his Test debut in July 2009 and so far played 36 of them, taking 119 wickets at 30.47 alongside four five-wicket hauls. He has also represented Pakistan in 61 ODIs and 50 T20Is, snaring 81 and 59 scalps respectively.

Mohammad Amir highlighted that if the players gather the courage to request the team management for rest, they run the risk of getting dropped. Hence, the cricketers are terrified to voice their concerns and he calls for the communication gap to be removed between them and management. Amir added that if any player wishes to have a break, the think-tank should be open for a discussion and understand their standpoints too instead of axing them.

“The problem is that if a player musters the courage to say in Pakistan cricket that he wants rest, he is dropped, so players are now scared about speaking about it with the management. There is a mindset in Pakistan cricket where players are scared of being dropped from the team. I think this communication gap should be removed between players and the management. If a player wants to take a break he should be happy to speak about it with the management and they should understand his point of view and give him a rest instead of dropping him from the team,” Amir told News One.

Mickey Arthur was our head coach and anyone can ask him this: Mohammad Amir

Mohammad Amir, who the selectors did not consider for the tour of New Zealand, revealed telling former coach Mickey Arthur that his workload needs managing otherwise he will have to leave Tests. The Punjab-born speedster went on to say that his decision to give up the whites for Pakistan created controversy, especially when Pakistan lost in Australia and no one chose to speak to him. Amir spoke about his predicament of returning from cricket from a five-year ban, underlining that hardly anyone understood the situation.

“Mickey Arthur was our head coach and anyone can ask him this. I was telling him since 2017 that if my workload is not managed I would have to leave Test cricket. After I announced my decision no one spoke to me for six months about it and a controversy was only created around my decision when we lost in Australia. People lack common sense to understand the situation I was in after returning to cricket from the five-year ban,” he added.

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