Karachi: Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir’s sudden decision to quit international cricket complaining of ‘mental torture’ took the cricketing world by surprise. Few days after his untimely retirement he recently opened up to the only teammate, who supported him throughout, Shahid Afridi.
The 28-year old fast bowler thanked Afridi who endorsed his inclusion in the team while everyone was against it. He also revealed that the entire team was on one side and Afridi was firm on playing the speedster. Amir underlined that the rest of the players wanted him to be sidelined due to his part in the spot-fixing row and thanked Afridi for staying by him.
“The entire team was on one side and did not want to play with me but Shahid bhai said, ‘Amir will play come what may’. I will always be thankful to these two,” Amir told in his Youtube video.
Amir also expressed his grievances with the PCB, who wants every player to agree with them no matter what and he wants this culture to stop. The 28-year old thanked the almighty for making a comeback and helping Pakistan win the Champions Trophy in 2017. He also added that not every player has the same guts as he does.
“This is not an emotional decision. I took this step after putting much thought into it. See, not everyone has (the same) guts as I have. If I made a mistake, I came clean in front of everyone and apologised for it as well and faced this issue. I came back and with Allah’s help bowled a very good spell at the Asia Cup and then became the first bowler to take a hat-trick in the PSL.
“I also helped Pakistan win the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. I have reservations with the current team management. This ‘yes boss, yes boss culture’ cannot be allowed to go on,” he added.
