Mohammad Amir Was Dropped On Performance, Don't Know Why He Made Everything Up: Misbah-ul-Haq

Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has said that fast bowler Mohammad Amir should have gone back to domestic cricket to prove his worth rather than making up circumstances surrounding his sudden retirement. Amir announced his retirement from international cricket on December 17 citing not being able to handle the mental torture he has been subjected to by the current Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) management and some former Pakistan players.

The left-arm pacer was not selected for the Pakistan tour of New Zealand in November and Misbah said nobody in the coaching staff had supported Amir's selection on the basis of performance.

"There was talk about Waqar Younis related to Amir but there is no truth in it at all. There were six [association] coaches as selectors, me as chief selector and then there was a captain. So this is absolutely not possible, [the idea] that one person out of all could have influenced the decision," ESPNcricinfo quoted Misbah as saying.

"Nobody was supporting his selection on the basis of performance. I have no idea why he made up everything and tried to give this whole scenario a context that is out of proportion. For him, it was a simple method: go back and prove his form and get back in the team and everything else is irrelevant," he added.

Amir didn't have the best of England tour as he went wicketless and then had a dismal outing in Pakistan's National T20 Cup before he was dropped from the Zimbabwe series.

"Against Zimbabwe last year we gave him a simple reason that we are going to play youngsters like [Mohammad] Hasnain, Haris Rauf, Musa Khan," said Misbah.

The Pakistan fast bowler played 36 Tests, 61 ODIs, and 50 T20Is. Amir went on to take 259 wickets across three formats of the game. Amir had played his first international match during the 2009 T20 World Cup.

However, a big turning point came in 2010 as Amir was arrested for spot-fixing and he was given a five-year ban for bowling two deliberate no-balls in a Test match against England.

Last year, Amir had announced his retirement from Test cricket in order to focus on white-ball cricket. He called time on his career after playing just 36 Tests, in which he scalped 119 wickets. He was last seen in action in the Lanka Premier League for Galle Gladiators. 

Topics mentioned in this article

Pakistan Cricket Team Mohammad Amir Misbah-ul-Haq Waqar Younis Cricket