Mohammed Amir Granted UK Visa, Set to Join Team Later This Week
Apr 24, 2018 at 3:20 PM
Pakistan’s left arm fast bowler Mohammad Amir has finally been granted a visa to travel to the United Kingdom for the team’s tour of England-Ireland and Scotland.
Amir will leave for England on Wednesday and will join the rest of the squad in Canterbury. Amir could not accompany the team, as he was unable to get the visa in time.
Other players departed for the tour on Sunday night from Lahore.
Amir has had both sweet and bitter memories of being in the United Kingdom.
The left-arm fast bowler was handed a six-month jail term and five-year ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for spot-fixing along with two other cricketers, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif in the 2010 Lord’s Test against England.
Other than that, Amir had been impressive in the UK, as he has 42 wickets to his name in ten Tests at an average of 26.26. He was also instrumental in Pakistan’s win over arch-rivals India in the Champions Trophy final in 2017 at the Oval.
With Amir getting the visa now, Pakistan’s bowling department looks a little more strengthened, as they are already without the services of Yasir Shah who is injured.
They have also excluded Wahab Riaz from the Test squad.
The trio was instrumental in helping Pakistan draw a historic Test series 2-2 in England in 2016 under the leadership of Misbah-Ul Haq. The side moved to the number one position in the Test rankings on the back of that series win.
Pakistan will take on Ireland in their historic debut Test in Dublin from May 11.
This will be followed by a two-match Test series against England scheduled to begin from 24th May at Lord’s and the second match to be played on 1st June in Headingley. Pakistan will also play two T20I’s against Scotland on 12 and 13th May.