If you could help it, you probably wouldn’t want to be in Mohamed Amir’s shoes. Yet later this week, the world’s attention will be riveted on a compelling comeback whose reverberations will be felt a fair distance from Auckland if, as is likely, he dons the Pakistan colours again. A more emotional moment in recent cricketing history would be hard to recall.
Come to think of it, emotion is written all over the Amir story. From overstepping the mark intentionally at Lord’s which snipped the fairytale rise of arguably, the world’s finest fast bowler at 18 like a brute censor scissor — famously reducing West Indian great Mike Holding to a quiver on TV live — to hopefully, marking his run-up at Eden Park almost five-and-a-half years later, it has the making of a pulsating spectacle.
As his date with destiny draws near, there is going to be no dearth of both appeal and revulsion on the second coming, which is what fuels the tantalizing possibility of what many had deemed impossible: the road to redemption. Ironically, Amir has found more support abroad than at home.
Led by former captain and commentator Rameez Raja, Amir found himself teetering on the edge of selection after his ODI captain Azhar Ali and ex-skipper Mohamed Hafeez refused to even train with him, the former even tendering his resignation before being persuaded otherwise.
While everyone is entitled to their opinion, you do wonder how Raja did share the Pakistan dressing room with many of the tainted players mentioned in the Justice Qayyum Commission report; more recently, he was happy to bask in the limelight with them at the Pakistan Super League auction, too. If he could be more forthcoming about who from amongst those of his tainted mates torpedoed his Test captaincy, for instance, the unforgiving campaign to nix the Amir rehab would make slightly more sense.
We haven’t seen the last of the prophets of doom; of this, one can be sure. Also conceivable is the sarcasm Amir will cop for the rest of his life whether he manages to turn the page or not, for, that is the nature of the beast.
Amir’s vow to win back hearts with wickets and love is only to be expected from someone who lost the time of his life to a stupid call. But will those calling for permanent time on the international career of a young man, who seeks redemption — what else is the purpose of punishment, you wonder — also take a moment to reflect if it is morally right to render him an outcast after meeting the ends of justice?
Having said that, a second chance, and a tilt at redemption, is not for everyone. Amir knows it full well. Last September, when the ICC let Amir and the PCB know he was free to fly again, he didn’t forget to thank former England captain Mike Atherton, who like many of his English contemporaries in the commentariat, themselves betrayed some sentiment at the cruel twist in the tale when they advocated for leniency.
Former off-spinner Vic Marks even waxed philosophical, asking mournfully, if people before hadn’t committed a cardinal sin or two before life hadn’t fully opened up yet.
This came as a bit of a surprise considering England and Pakistan have rarely enjoyed a moment of bliss in the cricketing realm: to put it frankly, their history is cast in a certain ‘no-love-lost’ mould. From umpire kidnapping to terse suggestions of sending mothers-in-law on all-expenses paid trips, a lot of abstract exchanges from Boycott to Botham and Gatting to Shakoor Rana litter the la-la land.
While the English team and media were understandably aghast following the spot fixing revelations — a sordid tale compounded by ridiculous counterclaims made by the then PCB chief Ijaz Butt at the English team’s expense when he was asked to pull out the offending players — the sympathy for Amir because of his age and mitigating circumstances provided an interesting contrast.
The other two offenders, Salman Butt and Mohamed Asif, have never received an iota of the sympathy accorded to Amir to this day, and for reasons too well known to bear repetition. Suffice it to say, the sophisticated Butt, was the captain, and Asif, a habitual offender.
“Mike Atherton is someone whose words and support really inspired me. I’ve been given a second opportunity. Sometimes in life you don’t get a second chance, but I want to make the most of this second life I have been given,” Amir said, of one of several former greats waiting to see him in action again, almost as if he belonged to them, not the stage.
“Nasser Hussain, who I once saw walking around the team hotel in Sri Lanka in the early hours of the morning before a Test match unable to sleep, so worried was he about his form, spoke for us all when he said, ‘Please don’t let it be the kid’,” Atherton wrote in The News of the World back then as fears grew Amir would be banned for good.
More recently, Amir has found support from New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, who has said the pacer should be given a second chance and that he had no qualms playing against him.
“He was a very young man at the time and he’s gone through a sound rehabilitation programme,” McCullum told AP recently. “If he gets out on the field against us, then you play against the man you’re playing against, not a man who may have made some mistakes as a youngster.”
New Zealand Cricket chief David White also put things into perspective. “He was a very, very young man, a boy really. He showed remorse at the time, admitted to it,” White said. “I’m personally comfortable with him coming to New Zealand and playing.”
It may take a while for many others, including some average willowers against quality pace and swing in testing conditions, who tried to lead a rebellion at the camp, to be as comfortable. But who knows, a few quick wickets from Amir up front may open up a 20/20 vision for the naysayers!
Mohamed Amir
