Mohammad Amir Will Come Back To International Cricket As A Better Bowler: Azhar Mahmood

Former Pakistan allrounder  and current bowling coach Azhar Mahmood believes Mohammad Amir will return to Pakistan as a better bowler after being dropped from the side.

Mohammad Amir looked like a pale shadow of his usual self in the recently-concluded Asia Cup. The Pakistan pace spearhead went wicketless in the three matches he played in the tournament. Not surprisingly, he had to sit out the games against Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

In fact, Amir has struggled for consistency since his return to international cricket after serving the suspension.  Spells like one in the Champions Trophy final have been very few and have looked more like flash in a pan as the left-arm pacer continues to struggle. Those struggles have become more prominent in recent times.  He has taken only three wickets since the final of last year’s Champions Trophy. Amir has averaged over 100 with the ball in ODIs this year.

And the latest loss in form has cost him his place in the Pakistan team. Amir was first ignored for the ongoing Test series against Australia. Pakistan has now also dropped him for the upcoming T20I series against the same opposition.

However, Azhar Mahmood feels the latest setback will help Amir get back to his best and get rid of the self-doubt.

“He is not taking wickets and that pressure to perform is creating issues for him. This is then causing some self-doubts on his own ability which is why not playing in the next series against Australia will give him that much-needed break from this high pressure,” Azhar Mahmood told PakPassion.

“He can now go back to domestic cricket in a relaxed frame of mind and work on some technical issues such as his wrist position. We have told him exactly what he needs to do to remedy his problems and he will work on fixing the issues when he plays in domestic cricket and I believe he will come back to international cricket as a better bowler,” the former cricketer added.

Amir, meanwhile, has made a good return to domestic cricket. In his first game for Sui Southern Gas Corporation against Water and Power Development Authority, he picked up 3 for 31.