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Pakistan men's cricket team will kick start their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign against arch-rivals India on October 23 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia. Ahead of the ICC tournament, Pakistan Cricket Board drew mixed reactions from its own fraternity for excluding some prolific players from the World Cup squad.
While many retired cricketers pointed out the exclusion of experienced all-rounder Shoaib Malik from the squad, former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir posted a cryptic tweet after the T20 World Cup squad announcement. "Chief selector ki cheap selection," Tweeted Amit after PCB named a 15-member squad.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Chief selector Mohammad Wasim has revealed the reason behind Amir's exclusion from the squad. Wasim made it clear that Amir has absolutely no chance of making a comeback to the national team in his tenure. The chief selector further claimed that since the left-arm pacer has taken retirement from international cricket, he is not even eligible to be considered for a place in the team.
Notably, Amir announced his international retirement with immediate effect back in December 2020. He blamed team management comprising head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis for ill-treating him and vowed to not make a comeback till the management is not out of power.
"My work is to select from players who are available for selection. Unfortunately, Mohammad Amir never made himself available in my tenure. He announced his retirement, so I never talked about him. When he is not available, what can I say," said Wasim.
He further claimed that the players who are available for selection are always considered and even selectors reach out to them. "
"The rest, who are available, we do talk about them and consider them. But there is no such policy,” Wasim said on Pakistan journalist Hafiz Muhammad Imran's channel.
The left-arm speedster had last played for Pakistan in an away T20I series against England in August 2020. Meanwhile, Mohammad Amir was part of the Jamaica Tallawahs' victorious CPL 2022 campaign. He finished the tournament with 16 scalps to his name in 11 innings averaging 15.6 and an economy of 6.43.
