Wasim Akram Slams Mohammad Amir For His Early Retirement From Tests

Recently, in a shocking announcement, Pakistan’s talisman fast bowler Mohammad Amir decided to call time on his Test career at the age of just 27 years. Amir had decided to hang his boots from the red ball version in order to concentrate more on the limited-overs format of the game. Meanwhile, the Pakistan great Wasim Akram slams Mohammad Amir for leaving Test cricket at a very early age.

Amir played only 36 Tests, taking 119 wickets at an average of 30.47 for Pakistan. The 27-year-old pacer was jailed for his involvement in spot-fixing in 2011 and was subsequently handed a 5-year ban. Amir though came back strongly from the punishment and played a crucial role in Pakistan’s Champions Trophy final win over India in 2017.

Meanwhile, the former Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram has lambasted Mohammad Amir for his decision to quit Test cricket. Wasim Akram said it was time for Amir to pay back Pakistan cricket for investing in him, especially after comeback from spot-fixing ban. He felt Mohammad Amir should have played the series against Australia.

Mohammad Amir should have come to Australia – Wasim Akram

Alongside Mohammad Amir, Wasim Akram also felt Wahab Riaz should have played the Test series. He believes that the presence of the both experienced players would have made a massive difference to the side. Further, Wasim Akram quoted that he would have denied giving a central contract to Mohammad Amir if he was present in PCB.

“What really happened was that two of our premium bowlers [Amir, Wahab] just retired from Test cricket. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the whole country invested five years in Amir,” said Wasim. He’s 27 and should have come here and played a Test series and then maybe next year retired. That’s the problem Pakistan had,” Akram said.

The legendary Pakistan seamer then went on to add that if he was the chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), then he wouldn’t have handed a supreme contract to Amir. “If I was the PCB, I wouldn’t have given him a central contract because he retired a month ago,” Akram added. 

Well, as Wasim Akram said, it would have made a difference if Pakistan had got the services of Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz. The young Pace attack of Pakistan leaked runs on a regular basis to see themselves on the wrong side of things. Both David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne have scored Daddy Hundreds while Yasir Shah picked 4 wickets.