Mohammad Amir should have realized that papa Mickey Arthur will not always be there to safeguard him: Shoaib Akhtar

Former Pakistan speedster Mohammad Amir caused a massive controversy when he abruptly announced his retirement from the gentleman’s game in December 2020. With his retirement, Amir accused Pakistan’s team management of mishandling him and mentally torturing him.

The accusations hurled by Amir received mixed responses from the cricket fraternity as some supported the pacer while others lambasted him for making such statements against the team’s head coach and other management members. Now, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar has slammed Amir for not behaving maturely.

The veteran asserted that Amir needs to grow up as he will always not receive shelter from Mickey Arthur, the former Pakistan head coach. Akhtar further gave an example of Mohammad Hafeez saying that Hafeez also had problems with the team management but he still enjoyed a long cricket career.

“Sometimes you have good days and sometimes you have bad days. Amir should have realized that papa Mickey Arthur will not always be there to safeguard him. Sometimes you have to grow up. I am saying this for Amir. Sometimes you have to grow up. 

“You don’t let it go but you mature enough to realize that the management is not according to my wishes, now I have to raise my performance and level of hard work. The management was also against Hafeez. What did Hafeez do that was different? He just made runs and nothing else. He didn’t give the management an envelope full of cash. Amir should have learned from Hafeez,” Akhtar said while speaking on PTV Sports.

Never doubt those players who have won games for you in the past: Mohammad Amir

Recently, Mohammad Amir again made headlines as he slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board for mishandling of talent. The 29-year-old asserted that the management should focus more on the match-winning abilities of the player rather than the statistics. He further suggested that PCB should back the players in their bad phase.

“Never doubt those players who have won games for you in the past. Never doubt their ability due to statistics. Rather than focusing too much on statistics, you must see whether the player has the ability to win games for Pakistan from difficult situations. When a player is in a bad phase, that is when the team management and fans need to back him the most,” Mohammad Amir said in an interview with Crickwick.