The Shaky Case of Mohammad Amir: Why Fans Still Resent Him

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Mohammad Amir has perhaps had the most up-and-down career out of the current players in the Pakistani cricket team. He was a stellar talent when he came onto the world cricketing stage at the age of 17 and he is still is a stellar talent with big-match performances, but why do the fans continue to resent him despite his heroic performances?

How Amir built his name at a young age

Amir was famously noticed and selected by former Pakistani legend Wasim Akram at a cricket camp in 2007. Wasim Akram had been Amir’s idol since a young age, so seeing Akram single him out and praise him was a special moment for him and a great vote of confidence. Amir joined the Pakistani U-19 team at the age of 15 and performed well against opponents due to his threatening pace and swing. As Amir began to gain popularity, he joined the first-class circuit in 2008 and took a staggering 55 wickets within his first season – many of his wickets included top-order national batsmen. His strong performance in first-class and U-19 cricket prompted his inclusion in the 2009 T20 World Cup. He ended up with 6 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 7.3, as Pakistan won the World Cup.

Amir’s good performance at the T20 World Cup gave him a chance to perform in all formats and soon enough, he cemented his place in the side among all formats. Amir’s blistering spells against some of the top batsmen of the time including Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson and various English batsmen made him an international sensation. However, his most memorable bowling spell came in the 2010 T20 World Cup when one of the overs he bowled in a match against Australia resulted in a record five wickets – Amir took 3 wickets while two other batsmen were run out. 

The match fixing scandal

In the 2010 tour of England, Amir and fellow bowler Mohammad Asif bowled deliberate no-balls in coordination with their captain Salman Butt in return for a payment from a betting organization. Amir initially denied the allegations as he was under immense mental pressure at such a young age, but the allegations against him and his teammates turned out to be true. He was sentenced to six months in prison and banned from all cricketing activities for five years. Many critics and former players voiced their disappointment in Amir ruining his career at such a young age, but many defended him saying that he was young and new to the team. Moreover, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif who were relatively more experienced players had instructed him to ball the no-balls, so Amir may have been peer pressured into committing to the betting deal. For these reasons, Amir did receive a smaller sentence and a less severe punishment.

Return to cricket

Amir made his return to international cricket in 2016, but his return was marred by a couple of controversies. Senior players Azhar Ali and Mohammad Hafeez attempted to boycott training camps because of Amir’s return and presence citing that he had betrayed the country. However, Azhar and Hafeez soon did normalize their relations with Amir. Secondly, Amir was the focus of several chants and cases of abuse from crowds in New Zealand and England during Pakistan’s tours. More importantly though, his return to cricket was filled with dropped catches – 11 catches had been dropped off Amir’s balls in 7 tests. This high number of dropped catches prompted some fans to guess that some players still held a grudge against Amir which was hurting the team now.

Amir’s bowling spell against India in the 2016 Asia Cup became a memorable one, as he picked the wickets of three top order India batsmen in quick succession. Yet, Amir’s most significant contribution since his return came in the 2017 Champions Trophy where he joined up with Sarfaraz Ahmed to create a match-saving partnership of 75* against Sri Lanka. Had Pakistan not won the match, they would not have reached the semi-finals as Sri Lanka would have progressed. But Amir saved his best for the last game. In the high-pressure and high stakes game against arch-rivals India in the final, Amir picked up the wickets of India’s three top-order batsmen Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan. What made Amir’s ferocious bowling spell even more interesting was that Virat Kohli had been dropped at slip on the ball before he was caught out. Amir’s vital contributions in the matches against Sri Lanka and India meant he made it to the Champions Trophy Team of the Tournament. 

Following his heroics at the Champions Trophy, Amir was feeling overworked and fatigued which resulted in a poor performance at the 2018 Asia Cup. But Amir came back strong with good performances in the 2019 ODI World Cup by taking 17 wickets in 8 matches including a five-wicket haul against Australia. Amir ended up as Pakistan’s highest wicket taker and the overall 7th highest wicket taker in the tournament. Amir’s efforts ended in vain as Pakistan failed to reach the semi-finals on net run rate.

Why Amir decided to retire from tests and slow down his pace

Amir, along with teammate Wahab Riaz, announced after the World Cup that he would be retiring from test cricket citing his focus on white-ball cricket. Amir and Wahab’s decision to retire from test cricket at a stage where Pakistan was lacking experienced fast bowlers in the longer format was met with criticism from fans and former players. Many called Amir and Wahab selfish and labelled them terms such as ‘traitors’, but their reasons may have been justified.

Wahab and Amir, over the years, have been overworked and suffered injuries by playing across all formats and even playing the Pakistan Super League. They had to retire from test cricket soon otherwise their careers could be immensely shortened. Sports and cricket players may earn plenty of money, but they have short careers ranging from 10 to at most 15 years for fast bowlers, so it is normal for them to retire from test at a younger age. Prospects of employment after sporting careers are limited with very few former players becoming critics or commentators. Retiring from test cricket early allows them to earn more money while enhancing this white-ball cricket performance with the 2020 T20 World Cup coming up soon. Former cricketer Shahid Afridi saw the benefit of this as he retired from test cricket at the age of 30 and continued to play for Pakistan in his late 30s, and as he has entered his 40s, he continues to play in the Pakistan Super League. 

Moreover, it has been noticed that Amir has reduced his average bowling speed and pace to 140 km/h and below, while he occasionally bowls spells exceeding speeds of 145 km/h when required such as in the 2017 Champions Trophy final. Amir has not explicitly mentioned or addressed these concerns, but experts estimate that it is a ploy to prevent injuries and undue stress on his body, while also allowing him to focus more on the line and length of his bowling. Some say that he may have done this to model his bowling game around the likes of Wasim Akram who sacrificed pace for accuracy as Amir does now. Wasim Akram himself has said that Amir has become a much smarter and refined bowler since his return to international cricket.

Why the resentment of fans towards Amir continues?

Upon the announcement of Mohammad Amir’s omission from PCB’s central contract for 2020-21, many Pakistani fans rejoiced on social media and made statements like ‘he deserves it’. There is no doubt that some fans will never be happy with Amir no matter what he does in his career. Taking a bribe or match-fixing is an incident that can permanently ruin the image of any player, but Amir has done enough to reconcile and please many Pakistani fans. His memorable spells in the 2016 Asia Cup, contributions in the 2017 Champions Trophy and strong performance in the 2019 World Cup is enough for many Pakistani cricket fans to support Amir again. 

The small but loud group of fans who continue despising Amir may have their reasons for disliking him, but if Amir continues doing well with the Pakistani team and giving unforgettable and match-winning performance, he may have no more haters. Mohammad Amir still has many years left in him, as he enters the physical peak of his career at the age of 28 and he may have enough time left in his career and enough talent in him right now to overturn the public opinion of him in his favour.