Lahore: Cricketers having conflict with Pakistan Cricket Board is nothing new. Recently former Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir blamed the team management for ill-treatment towards him that led to his shock retirement.
Considered as one of the finest pacers of the generation, the speedster hung up his boots from international cricket on December last year. The left-arm seamer played an integral role in the national team’s win in the 2009 ICC World T20 in England.
After coming back from a five-year ban early in his career in 2015, Amir bowled the spell of his life in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy as Pakistan beat India by 158 runs. Amir, who played in 36 Tests, 61 ODIs, and 50 T20Is, highlighted that retiring from international cricket wasn’t an easy step for him.
“Retiring from playing for your beloved country isn’t an easy step to take. I thought a lot about this decision, I spoke to those close to me and only then did I reach this decision. If I go into all of the details and re-open all those chapters then it will get very ugly. I hope that our players, especially the youngsters in future don’t have to face what I had to face as I don’t want our younger players to get disheartened and have to sacrifice their careers like I did,” Amir was quoted as saying to PakPassion.net.
The 29-year-old revealed that he didn’t get the respect he deserved from the PCB officials that played a major role in the pacer calling time on his career.
“What matters most to me is respect and I felt that I wasn’t getting the respect I deserved and that’s why I took the decision to retire. No matter what I did, the critics were never happy. If I had figures of 1/40 from 10 overs, they’d say that I didn’t take enough wickets. If I took 3/60 from 10 overs, they would say that I conceded too many runs. It was a no-win situation for me,” he added.
Amir further added that he will only get to play for Pakistan if team management improves but at the moment he isn’t getting to play for Pakistan. “If things get better in terms of the team management, then there is definitely a chance. Nobody knows what the future holds and what can happen tomorrow. But for now, and as things stand at the moment there is no chance of me playing for Pakistan,” he said.
Amir further revealed that he had a ‘mental pressure’ before his retirement, adding that there was a huge ‘communication gap’ between him and the team management which affected his ‘mental health’.
“Yes, I was suffering from mental pressure, and I would be very surprised if I was the only one who has gone through this. Some players are too frightened to do anything about it or speak up about it because there are a lot of things that are outside the control of players. If the team management isn’t giving a player any respect, then that is going to affect the player.
When there is a communication gap between the team management and the players then things will head in the wrong direction. There was a big communication gap between the management and I, and this was very badly handled and really affected me and my mental health,” he added.
