KARACHI: Controversial Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir on Thursday announced retirement from international cricket in protest over the ‘shabby’ treatment he said he received from management.

The 28-year-old, who had already retired from Tests, was not selected in a large 35-member squad for the New Zealand series last month and was also overlooked for the home series against Zimbabwe.

“I don’t want to play international cricket anymore,” Amir, who has previously been banned for match fixing, said. “I was always available for white ball cricket. I don’t think I can play cricket under this management. I think I should leave cricket this time. I am being tortured mentally. I don’t think I can tolerate any more torture now and that’s unacceptable.

“No, I’m not going away from cricket. If you have seen the atmosphere here and the way I’ve been sidelined, I got a wake-up call when I was not selected in the 35-man squad,” Amir lamented.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed Amir’s decision.

“PCB chief executive Wasim Khan spoke with Amir this afternoon who confirmed that he has no desires or intensions of playing international cricket and, as such, he should not be considered for future international matches,” a PCB release said. “This is a personal decision of Amir, which the PCB respects.”

Amir angered head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis with his abrupt decision to retire from Test cricket in July last year.

Waqar accused Amir of ‘ditching Pakistan’ while continuing to play league cricket to earn money.

“I know my body better than anyone and that decision was primarily taken to save my body,” Amir protested. “I’ve experienced a lot of torture from 2010 to 2015. I was away from the game and sentenced for my mistake. I’m being tortured again and again...”

Amir rose to international fame in 2010 as a young left-arm paceman.

Legendary Pakistan paceman Wasim Akram described him as ‘the most talented fast bowler’. But Amir’s career hit a roadblock when he was banned for five years in a spot-fixing case.

He was caught, along with then Test captain Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, by a sting operation into the orchestration deliberate no-balls in return for money in a Lord’s Test against England in 2010.

Of the three, only Amir returned to international cricket in 2016. A year later he helped Pakistan win the Champions Trophy with three wickets in the final against India.

He was Pakistan’s best bowler with 17 wickets in last year’s World Cup.

Amir took 119 wickets in 36 Tests while his tally in 61 one-day internationals is 81 and 59 in 50 Twenty20 internationals.

Amir added that the only people who supported him were former captain Shahid Afridi and former PCB chairman Najam Sethi.

“Sethi and Shahid Afridi were the two people whom I will thank forever, both of them supported me at a tough time,” he added. “I returned after completing the sentence of five years, it’s not like I returned after a year... The rest of the team said: ‘We will not play with Mohammad Amir’.”

Amir further said: “Recently, the atmosphere that’s been created means I get taunted all the time by being told I don’t want to play for my country. Every two months, someone says something against me. Sometimes the bowling coach [Waqar Younis’ says Amir ditched us, sometimes I’m told my workload is unsatisfactory. Enough is enough.”

The PCB not thanking Amir for his services underlined the depth of the estrangement between them.

The left-armer took 259 wickets across 36 Tests, 61 One-day Internationals and 50 Twenty20s Internationals.

His last international was in August in a T20 against England. He was not part of the limited-overs home series against Zimbabwe and left out of the T20 series in New Zealand starting on Friday.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2020