The Amir anomaly.

Byline: Saad A. Toor

Recently the PCB announced, with confirmation, the retirement of Mohammad Amir. The rise and fall of Amir relates to the initial fanfare being based on his raw talent whereas the latter correlates with his mishandling by both the leadership and the management he encountered in his short international career. His loss is a tremendous blow for Pakistan cricket from a standpoint of his overall potential going to naught, his career being cut short from a longevity perspective, and the wasted second opportunity, for he could have continued to spearhead the fast-bowling department for the green shirts.

Amir, 28, debuted at 17. With a loss of five years due to the spot fixing scandal in Pakistan's tour of England in 2010, he only managed to have a career that spanned a total of six years. His left arm bowling was nostalgia for admirers of Wasim Akram and his pace could draw parallels to Shoaib Akhtar's fierce bowling as Amir was from the outskirts of Rawalpindi. A lack of delving into the addressal of his mental health could have been a major contributing factor that led him to having sour relations with the administration as the subject matter is taboo in the South Asian context.

Amir represented Pakistan in a total of 36 tests, 61 ODIs, and 50 T20 internationals. In the limited form of the game, he contributed to serious hardware when it came to filling up Pakistan's trophy collection of ICC achievements that included both the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup and the 2017 Champions Trophy. One can never forget how Amir bowled out T Dilshan in the former for a duck in the Twenty20 International final as he was awarded the Man of the Tournament despite Sri Lanka's loss. Nor can one overlook Amir's contributions in the latter for he devastated India's batting order by picking up 3-16 as Virat Kohli's men were chasing 339. Kohli, regarded as one of the greatest batsman of the modern era, had remarked that Amir is a world class bowler and the best he has faced in his international career.

Interestingly, London was the place of both glory and humiliation for Amir although he won both titles at the venues of the Lord's Cricket Ground and the Oval, respectively. The initial was where he had also delivered a no-ball that changed the game forever and tarnished his career in 2010. Coming from a humble background, Amir was manipulated into producing such a spell at the behest of his captain, Salman Butt. The involvement of Mohammad Asif also...