21 August, 2010 -5/52 vs England at Kennington Oval. The Man of the Match award.
29 August, 2010 – 6/84 vs England at Lord’s. The Man of the Series award.
And just when it looked sky was the limit for the young pacer from Rawalpindi, Mohammad Amir’s career came crashing down to earth. Just of 18 years of age and already labeled a rising star, Amir on November 3, 2011, along with his Captain and his partner in cricketing and other crimes, Asif, was convicted of one short of the greatest felony in the game – Spot Fixing.
Five years later, Amir’s exile from competitive cricket ended yesterday when he was allowed to return to domestic cricket by ICC under the auspices of the PCB, six months before his ban would have originally expired. While this news has brought joy to cricket lovers from all over the world, a part feels it’s a step in the wrong direction by the cricketing body. For once, despite being the ardent lover of the game I am, I would side with the minority on Amir.
Amir’s sympathizers’ most fierce argument supporting his rehabilitation to cricket are made on the grounds of him being too naïve when he committed the crime. But was he? His age may be betraying the truth in this case. Debuting at 17, Amir had been with the national team for a good 14 months when he played his last match in Aug 2010. In this period, he had travelled to Sri Lanka, Australia, England and New Zealand with the team. Moreover, he was an integral part of the team for two ICC tournaments as well – ICC WorldT20 and ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa. The kind of exposure he received in his brief stay at the highest level should have been enough to put some sense in his head against doing what he did.
Secondly, Spot-Fixing may not be half as big a crime as Match-fixing but both points in the same direction – a moral rot in the player. To underperform for money and thereby putting the interests of the team you’re representing is just not Cricket.
As a cricketer wearing the national colours and carrying hopes of millions on your shoulders, not giving your best for cash and gifts is betrayal to the nation and its people. Not acceptable, especially for someone who was hailed as the next big thing coming from Pakistan. Amir let down his nation.
Taking the debate further, how much does the ‘Amir was a special talent and deserves another chance’ argument hold true? Not much statistically. 51 wickets in 14 Tests appear good, but one cannot discount the fact that 11 of those 14 tests came in English, Australian and New Zealand conditions. He did rattle the Australian batting in England but it were on those pitches that a certain innocuous Shane Watson looked deadly too, returning with figures of 6/33 and 5/40.
No doubt Amir was a good talent and could have gone to touch greater heights. But in this harsh world of cricket, innumerable ‘could have been greats’ have come and gone, and none of them committed a felony as big as the Pakistani. And moreover, Cricket is as much a game of temperament as it is of talent. Also, ICC, for once, would benefit by realizing that going soft on a rogue was the worst they could do in times when T20 leagues are proliferating, and with them the cloud of corruption in Cricket.
The five-year exile from Cricket should have made Amir look at his mistakes from a much matured perspective and he must be itching to return to the level they said he belonged to. But the taint he carries will not leave him anytime soon and would make it difficult for any dressing room he enters to accept him gleefully. The Pakistani dressing room, passing through a rare period of non-turbulence under Misbah who has marshaled his limited resources brilliantly over the last few years, doesn’t deserve such a distraction.
Despite this amnesty from ICC, Amir has an arduous road lying ahead of him. But as he himself has admitted, he has made the game suffer and brought it disrepute, and thus it’s well deserved as well. Amir should consider himself fortunate for being one of those rare cricketers who has got people rooting for him despite a taint such an early on his career.
Nothing touches the heart of a cricket lover more than a good redemption tale in the game. Amir’s story has all the potential to be one. But the problem with this tale, if it ever happens, is that despite making for a heart wrenching fairytale, it would, at the same time, also serve a wrong example for an entire generation, who would see how a career can be resurrected despite starting with a wrong as big as fixing. Can cricket afford such a scenario? Despite my best wishes for the 23 year old, I say NO.