Pakistan star tells of ‘mentaltorture’

Pakistan officials confirmed fast bowler Mohammad Amir’s engaging international cricket career ended on Thursday.

Amir announced his decision to local Samaa TV, saying he was ‘‘mentally tortured’’ by Pakistan team-mates and coaches, the national board, and by opponents wherever he played.

Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Wasim Khan then spoke to the 28-year-old Amir.

‘‘He has no desires or intentions of playing international cricket and as such, he should not be considered for future international matches,’’ the PCB said in a statement.

‘‘This is a personal decision of Mohammad Amir, which the PCB respects, and as such, will not make any further comment on this matter at this stage.’’

The board not thanking Amir for his services underlined the depth of the estrangement between them.

The left-armer took 259 wickets across 36 tests, 61 one-day internationals and 50 Twenty20s.

Amir was 18 when he was banned in 2010 for five years and jailed for three months for spot-fixing in a test series in England.

He was allowed to return to cricket a few months early and recalled by Pakistan in 2016.

In 2019 he no longer wanted to play tests, to focus on white-ball cricket and prolong his international career.

His last international was in August in a T20 against England. He was not part of the limited-overs home series against Zimbabwe and left out of the T20 series in New Zealand starting last night in Auckland.

‘‘I am leaving cricket for now because I’m being mentally tortured,’’ Amir told Samaa TV.

‘‘I don’t think I can bear such torture.

‘‘I’ve borne lots of torture from 2010 to 2015, for which I served my time. I’ve been tortured by being told the PCB invested a lot in me.

‘‘I’ll just say two people invested in me a lot: Najam Sethi [the former PCB chairman] and Shahid Afridi [former Pakistan captain]. They were the only two.

‘‘The rest of the team was saying we don’t want to play with Amir.

‘‘Recently, the atmosphere that’s been created means I get taunted all the time by being told I don’t want to play for my country.

‘‘Every two months, someone says something against me.

‘‘Sometimes the bowling coach [Waqar Younis] says Amir ditched us, sometimes I’m told my workload is unsatisfactory. Enough is enough.’’

‘‘I am leaving cricket for now because I’m being mentally tortured. I don’t think I can bear such torture.’’

Mohammad Amir