Recently Alastair Cook reportedly said he did not have a problem with playing against Amir in the coming Test series, but the England skipper wanted the ICC to be much stricter and slap life bans on fixing offenders.
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It was in the 2010 Pakistan tour of England where Amir, along with Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt, were found guilty in the infamous spot-fixing scandal.
The series will be started from July 14 while Pakistan team will play five one day internationals and one Twenty20. “If I had to retire from cricket, I would have got retirement, but as I am fully fit and want to do more for my country, I will carry on serving the game and my country”.
“If fixing is still happening, then it’s really alarming”.
“To be honest I never thought about my comeback and I feel seriously lucky to be back in the role to play Test cricket again”, he said.
“I was all excited for Test cricket because that is where my career was held back and I still can’t believe that this is happening”, he said.
Fast bowler Mohammad Amir thinks he’s lucky to re-don the Pakistan green cap.
The other two players involved in the spot-fixing case, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, are yet to return to global cricket despite their five-year bans being lifted last year.
“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”.
Amir also realizes he had missed crucial time, otherwise he could have achieved more laurels.
Amir said it’s the players who need to be honest while representing their countries in global matches.
“Corruption in cricket should not be allowed and anyone caught (in future) should be banned for life”.
“I won’t say that I have forgotten my past and those incidents won’t come back to haunt me, but I am looking at it positively as I want to replace the past with a better future”.
Amir, only 18 then, was the youngest player to find a place on the honours board when he claimed 6 for 84 on his first tour to England in 2010. Pakistan and England had last faced each other in UAE a year ago when Pakistan won test series 2-0. But I don’t want to lose my focus; I would rather think about my performance.
Talking to APP, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official said the board has barred the players to give interviews and have asked them to have limited interaction with the English media unless permitted by the manager.
“The recent training camp in Kakul enhanced my fitness level”, he said.
Also read: Will the new regime in Pakistan cricket culminate in Misbah-ul-Haq’s swansong?
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On the subject of crowd issues, Amir added: “In the ground the crowd shouts wherever you go, but as a professional it’s my duty to focus on the game”.
