Yasir Arafat, the Pakistani all-rounder who last represented Pakistan in 2012, has advised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to take special care of Pakistan’s premier fast bowler Mohammad Amir’s workload to save him from suffering major injuries. Amir made his comeback to international cricket few months after serving a ban for five years, and since then he has been the face of Pakistan’s pace attack. Reportedly, he was the main man behind Pakistan’s Champions Trophy victory as he rattled through the Indian batting line-up picking up three major wickets.
Arafat, who has a huge fan following in England playing county cricket for some time now while talking to Pakpassion said:
“I have been saying this before and will repeat it again. If Mohammad Amir or any other bowler is to be used in Test matches, then the PCB will need to ensure that they do not play 4-day county cricket games. Amir’s playing schedule needs to be managed better by the PCB. I understand that playing on the county circuit is an important part of a player’s progress but it is pretty severe in physical aspects in terms of a number of games that a professional is asked to play in a season with limited time to recover in between.”
The 25-year-old cricketer missed out on the five-match ODI series against Sri Lanka after he sustained a shin injury during the two-match Test series. Talking about the same, Arafat stated that too much playing time may cause severe injuries to his bodies. Notably, Amir bowled some magical spells during his stint with Essex helping them to win the historic title.
“Mohammad Amir performed brilliantly for Essex in the summer and helped them to a historic county title but that caused strain on his body and we saw the effects of that in his breakdown in the second Test in Dubai where his energy levels were nowhere near what was expected of a top-class bowler. He is not the young fast-bowler of many years ago and if he is to be an integral part of Pakistan’s Test squad in the future then he should not play the 4-day version in England,” Arafat further stated.
Arafat believes that Amir should concentrate more on the limited over game, however, as far as five-day matches are concerned he should only play Test matches for Pakistan.
“It is Amir’s good fortune that there are no Test matches until May next year so he has plenty of time to recover but he is quite fantastic in the shorter forms of the game as we saw in the series against Sri Lanka. He will also be a handful for the opposition when Pakistan tour New Zealand for the LOI series later on where the bowling conditions will suit him just fine,” Arafat signed off.
Mohammad Amir has represented Pakistan in 3o Test matches, 32 ODI and 38 T20I’s picking up 98, 55, and 38 wickets respectively. With his fiery pace and accurate line and length, he also bowls at a decent economy rate.