Amir’s lost Lords: the home of cricket for any cricketer and specially for those who leaves some remarkable performance on any particular day in England. As the script was already set somewhere in heaven, home of cricket witnessed something out of extraordinary in August 2010. It was the English summer and a series between Pakistan and England that brought some remarkable feet to a young lad who saturated after getting all the hypes at the age of 18.
Here comes a young lad with long hair, thin posture and some fierce determination in his heart. Eventually, what lord’s saw at that moment of time was just an effect of a venomous spell that got his name in the honor’s board at Lords. His six wickets spell was an epic display of swing bowling that got a glimpse of the sultan of swing Wasim Akram devastating English batsmen back in 1992 world cup final. To justify this imagination of my brain, Rameez Raja statement would make it crystal clear “He is much clever than Akram at the age of 18”.
As the law of physics states that everyone leaving the ground and reaching a certain height needs to fall on the ground, same happened in young Amir’s super buzzing career. Cricket witnessed a shock in a matter of a week in 2010, when Mohammad Amir along with Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif were highlighted in an unwanted and unexpected allegation of spot-fixing. Particularly Amir’s 3 footed no ball was the main highlight that nearly ruined a champion bowlers dream to play for a proud nation of Pakistanis. The journey from the name at the honor’s board to the name on the front of the newspaper for a spot-fixing allegation was short but not that sweet, it seemed like Amir was on a roller coaster ride for a while, suddenly at the top then directly at the bottom. Amir was in the next stage of an extraordinary journey.
On 2nd September 2010 ICC announced that they have suspended Amir under the provision of the ICC Anti- corruption code. Amir has got the sympathy of several ex-cricketers, including that of former England captain Michael Atherton. In an article for the News of the World, Atherton asserted that “Amir is an asset to the game and must not be given a harsh punishment, considering his immense talent and young age.”
Rising talent instantaneously disappeared in the cricketing world after 6 years ban from the game that he loved and got all those which an 18 years kid could hardly dream of.No one knew neither, no one tried to know what happened during this time with Amir, it seemed like a growing tree was cut off. It was like some extraordinary art of an artist that went valueless because the brush that he chose didn’t pick an authorized symbolization.
Amir’s name in the Pakistan squad for the series against New Zealand, divided the whole cricketing world into two parts for Amir and against Amir. When the two captains of different format Azhar Ali and Mohammad Hafeez were totally against Amir and were even refusing to share dressing room with him created a chaos in the cricketing world. Action speaks louder than the words and Amir’s action after returning to the international cricket was louder than the both captains words. Although his senior mates were against him, whole cricket supporters, including me was behind Amir who is a global example of a comeback from any negative situation in life. Performance of Amir after returning to International cricket is just an indirect slap to each and every critic.
Finally, somewhere around the busy street someone knew the value of the art that artist imagined few years back but was rejected. Hence, the art was just a step behind to rise in front of digital generation and rest is history until now.
On 13th of March 2015 Amir made comeback to domestic cricket playing for Omar Associates in the grade II patron’s trophy. Mohammad Amir was declared completely free to play all forms of cricket from September 02, 2015. Now it seemed that the new tree was planted in the same spot where the previously the growing tree was cut off.
It is hard to regain the lost respect. A mountain from the base seems easily reachable but it takes some extra effort to reach where you left when you had all positive vibes along with your name. Amir did what is just impossible for others as he started from the same threshold where he left some 6 years ago. Amir also began to climb the mountain of international cricket. His starting steps towards the mountain began with being the highest wicket taker in Bangladesh premier league in 2015; the way of the mountain became easier to Amir in February 2016 after becoming the first player to take a hat-trick in the Pakistan Super League. Amir performance proved that your name cannot be disappeared until you have dedication, passion, and love for the game.
#WELCOMEBACKAMIR
The hashtag trending everywhere in social media was a proud moment to each and every Amir fan. On 15th of January 2016 finally Amir made comeback in international cricket in a T20 match against New Zealand.
Asia cup T20, 2016 in Bangladesh
Mohammad Amir picked up three early wickets, India v Pakistan, Asia Cup, Mirpur, February 27, 2016 ©AFP
Recently held Asia cup T20 revived the moment, Amir was in green shining jersey with the Pakistan cricket logo of a star shining in his heart, an old star finally got a virtue of getting re-birth in an international arena that faded his life some years back. The magical spell against India brought Amir back to the area of 22 yards that left him wounded, shattered, devastated as well as took everything that he had earned.
He also became the youngest player to take 50 test wickets earning praise from several former international cricketers. In that eventful series against England, if the incident of summer 2010 hadn’t taken place this guy would have created a history in those six years. With this sort of performance, I can see many records being shattered, made upside down as well as this young gun shine as the fresh morning sun leaving everyone warm with the performance that would glorify the moon at the top of the flag of Pakistan.
I hope I have justified my words at the start of this article that this lad’s and comeback is certainly a “comeback to be praised.”
