Azhar Mahmood expects more from Mohammed Amir

Mohammad Amir forayed into international cricket as a teenager and immediately grabbed eyeballs with the pace and movement he generated. However, fate had something gruesome in store for him and he got tangled in the infamous spot-fixing scandal in 2010 at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. Subsequently, he was banned from playing cricket for five years.

However, the ban was lifted in 2015 and he made a comeback in the 2016 Asia Cup against India where he ruffled the feathers of the celebrated Indian batsmen. However, he hasn’t been up to scratch and has somewhat failed to replicate the performance he dished out prior to getting suspended. He has recently been selected for Pakistan’s tour of Ireland and England.

“Get more wickets for us”- Mahmood on Amir

Meanwhile, Azhar Mahmood, the Pakistan bowling coach wants the pace bowling prodigy to show consistency. “We want more from Amir, as bowling coach I want more from Amir. If you see his record since he came back it’s not great, but he was coming back after five years out. He needs to take a bit more responsibility and get more wickets for us,” Mahmood was quoted as saying by AFP.

The squad has quite a few youngsters in their ranks and will be in for a stern for a stern challenge. Mahmood also feels that being a strike bowler for the team, Amir has to stand up and deliver the goods expected from him. “If he’s the leader of this attack, he needs to show us a bit more. I’m sure he will do that and that’s what we want from him,” the bowling coach added.

The team also doesn’t have the services of experienced campaigners like Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah, which makes them inexperienced. Hence, Amir’s performance becomes even more important to Pakistan’s chances in the series. The selection of the squad has been severely criticized by the country’s cricketing fraternity and the team would wish to soar above expectations and come out trumps.

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