One to Watch: Mohammad Amir
Wednesday 25th April 2018
Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir is a different person and player to the 18-year-old star that dazzled and self-destructed in 2010 but still a prodigious talent in all forms of the game, writes Alex Jennings.
The 26-year-old made his return from Test exile at Lord’s as Pakistan recorded a sensational 75-run victory over their hosts at the Home of Cricket in 2016 after a five-year ban after spot-fixing allegations.
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With 95 wickets in just 30 Tests, the left-armer has been compared to Pakistan Test record wicket-taker Wasim Akram (410 wickets in 104 matches) and like Akram, Amir has arguably excelled even more with the white ball where his explosive pace can win matches in a single spell.
He played with Kent’s Joe Denly for Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League T20 and is the only bowler to have a five-wicket maiden in international cricket, achieving the landmark in a T20 against Australia (1 caught, 2 bowled, 2 run outs) in 2010.
In 2017 the Oval bore witness to an Amir masterclass in the Champions Trophy final – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dawan falling in the first 10 overs as a devastating spell changed the game.
Then there was Essex, where he helped fire the club to their first Specsavers County Championship victory in 25 years. Amir’s three first class matches saw him take 14 wickets at 13.50, including a superb 10 wicket haul in Yorkshire last year.
It’s safe to say that Amir has enjoyed some spectacular highs and lows in his mercurial career to date.