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Mohammad Amir takes indefinite break from international cricket citing 'mental torture'


Pakistan speedster Mohammad Amir has said that he could not play cricket for Pakistan so long as the current Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) dispensation is at the helm of affairs. Saying that he is being tortured mentally both by the board and by the people for choosing white-ball cricket, the 28-year-old feels he can’t take that torture anymore. 

Answering a journalist’s question on why he looks sad and does he want to leave cricket, Amir said, “No, I am not going away from cricket, actually certain people are trying to pull me away from the game. If you would have noticed, I had got the wake-up call at the time when my name was not among the 35 selected to tour New Zealand. If I am not good enough to be among the 35, it was a sign that I must look for myself and plan my game going ahead,” he continued. 

Recently in Sri Lanka for the Lanka Premier League (LPL), Amir took 12 wickets in 10 games for Galle Gladiators and also played the finals that took place on 16th December in Hambantota. He was brilliant in the death overs. However, even after such a form, he believes he could not play any longer for Pakistan. 

“To be honest,  I don’t think I could play cricket under this management anymore. I am leaving cricket for now. I  am being mentally tortured and I don’t think I could take it anymore. I have had enough from 2010-15, can’t take it no more,” he said. 

Saying that he is always thrown the same taunt that PCB invested in him and he ditched them (by not playing Test cricket), Amir clarified how not all that is being said is true and thanked former skipper Shahid Afridi. 

“I have always heard PCB invested a lot in me. It wasn’t like I had come after a year and started playing cricket. I had gone through that hell for five years. Still, I would credit two people the most, one is Sethi Saab (Najam Sethi, former PCB chairman) and the other Shahid Afridi.

Rest, the entire team was of the view that we would not play with Amir. I will always be grateful to them,” said Amir who was banned for five years after being proven guilty of spot-fixing in 2010. 

Amir, who has taken 259 wickets in 147 international games for Pakistan across the three formats, further added that he is being branded by the board and some players, even the bowling coach, as someone to have committed a sin by opting to play white-ball cricket for the nation and quitting the red-ball format. 

“Now what has happened is, they want to taunt me for everything. Like when I made a personal decision that I wanted to focus on white-ball cricket and leave the red ball, they branded it as if I never wanted to play for the country,” he said. 

“This is so irrational and illogical. Man, I started from leagues (the comeback) in Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), so if I just wanted to play leagues, I could have carried on doing that. But all I wanted to do was play for the country, give back to it as much as I could in white-ball cricket,” Amir added while asserting that he would release a final statement once he reaches Pakistan and discussed the matter with his family. 

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