Amir, along with former skipper Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, were then found guilty of various offences of corrupt behaviour relating to the Lord’s Test between England and Pakistan in August 2010 by the independent Anti-Corruption Tribunal in February 2011.
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The 36-year-old maverick batsman, however, doesn’t expect the hosts to sledge Amir and warned local fans against provoking the Pakistan quick.
Wahab, who boasted earlier this week that Pakistan had devised a plan to ambush Root, said that England could crumble if the tourists took the wickets of him and captain Alastair Cook.
Broad memorably bowled England to an Ashes win at Trent Bridge when Anderson was absent previous year, and again impressed when England were without the Lancashire man in Durban last Christmas but still managed to secure a victory over South Africa. I faced him in the Pakistan Super League in Dubai this year.
“I have said it before, but everybody is supportive of Mohammad Amir, no one is reluctant”. We all take him as our young brother and he is a part of our family.
“We’re expecting a lot of support because there are a lot of Pakistani communities here in the United Kingdom, they’re always here to support us and hopefully we won’t let them down this time”, said Wahab. The speedster’s best performance with the ball over an entire season came in 2012 when his 64 wickets were picked up at a mere 19.45.
Amir took part in the tour game against Somerset last week and snared four wickets across the two innings while giving away 78 runs in the 26 overs he bowled in the match.
Asif argues that everyone deserves a second chance.
“That’s the story that I would want to talk about”, he said.
“It’s an emotional subject for me, but on the other hand he is a great talent”.
Former England star Kevin Pietersen revealed his loyalty to his adopted nation saw him turn down a job as Pakistan’s batting consultant. “Once he has done his punishment then it is a new life for him and he is ready to have a go again”.
“I don’t think I have got the power (to control crowd reaction)”.
No-one with even a passing interest in sport will be unaware of the significance of Amir’s return to the Home of Cricket, for his Test comeback.
“Whether the rules should be tougher to put more people off I don’t know”.
“He was sinning, he did wrong, he was very foolish indeed. No matter how good you are, if you sell your soul for 30 pieces of silver, you have to pay the consequences and I don’t think he has”.
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“You call it a coincidence or whatever but for me it’s a blessing that I am restarting (Tests) right at Lord’s from where I stopped in 2010”. He served his time, he has been in prison, he has been disgraced and he has been stopped from playing for five years.
