A 17-year-boy broke into the Pakistani team five years ago. He swung the ball both ways and that too at a speed of 145 kmph. In his initial short stint in the team, he mostly played against top teams like England and Australia and made headlines, destroying the batting line-ups consisting of the likes of Shane Watson and Michael Clarke. Media almost started calling Shane Watson his bunny after he got him out too many times in the Test series. The Pakistani’s claimed that they had found a bowler who would become the next Wasim Akram for his country. He was none other than Mohammad Amir.
But the short fairy tale ended pretty badly for this youngster as he was arrested following a match fixing probe. This man spent his last five years practicing on the roof of his house and waited to wear the Pakistani jersey once again. He claims he made a mistake which he was unaware of. However taking his age then taking into account, he clearly was caught in the wrong doing of his seniors. He was sentenced five years of life without cricket.
Back home none of the clubs allowed him to play. He didn’t play domestic cricket for a long time either. Now on his return, he has clearly caught the attention of the cricket aficionados once again as he bowled superbly against all the teams that Pakistan played in the Asia Cup.
The match against India last week showed his abilities to get world class batsman out easily. Virat Kohli, who too has been in great form, too, was taken aback by his deliveries and was lucky enough to negotiate Amir to steer India to a famous win. Later, the India Test captain congratulated the bowler for his stupendous spell.
Amir is a player with high potential and could easily overtake his contemporary bowlers. The life of this youngster already has the potential to be adopted into a biopic movie or book.
All we wish is now that he is back, may he make most of this opportunity and live up to the expectations of his fans. And who knows in coming future his battles against Virat Kohli would be as famous as the ones between Sachin Tendulkar and Shoaib Akhtar and he may break tons of records on his way.
