Amir set to make return to Pak squad

Pakistani cricket coach Waqar Younis (L) speaks with players as cricketers Mohammad Amir (C) and Azhar Ali (R) listen during a practice session in Lahore on December 29, 2015.

The trio was than banned in February 2011 for five years for spot-fixing by the anti-corruption tribunal of the ICC and also served varying jail terms for corruption and cheating in the United Kingdom.

“Happy to have Amir back in team”, Afridi today wrote on his twitter handle.

“It was very hard for me since last five years but I have faith on Allah and my family”.

Amir was exceptional on his return to domestic cricket as he performed well in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and ended up as the leading wicket-taker for his team Chittagong Vikings in the recently concluded Bangladesh Premier League.

ODI captain Azhar Ali and opening batsman Mohammad Hafeez openly opposed Amir joining the camp before they met with Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan and were told to accept Amir if he was selected for the national team.

The limelight of this saga, however, must not take the attention away from another fast bowler who returned to the squad, the veteran Umar Gul, who last played for Pakistan in April a year ago, into the T20I squad.

Nevertheless, his selection is a new chapter in his cricketing career, despite some consternation among Pakistan players both past and present.

Amir, 23, is favourite to get the selectors’ nod for a tour of New Zealand, where Pakistan will play three Twenty20s and three one-day internationals. Ramiz, however, expressed surprise at the selectors’ decision to omit left-arm pacer Muhammad Irfan from the national T20 squad.

“We are not undermining other players and forcing him [back] but there is always a difference between normal and extraordinary players”, Rasheed said of Amir.

“Irfan is in our plan and he is a proven talent but we wanted to try a different combination and hence dropped him”. Saad Nasim was also recalled in T20 team after over looked for a couple of times. “I know cricket especially ODIs and T20s have undergone changes and the attitude of batsmen is very different now”.