Don’t expect Amir to get hostile reception in England: Imran Khan

Pakistan’s former cricket captain Imran Khan does not expect tainted left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir to get a hostile reception during the upcoming series in England.

Amir was named in Pakistan’s Test squad to face England in a four-match series starting next month, six years after he received a spot-fixing ban against the same opponents, NDTV reports.

‘I don’t think he will get a hostile press or reception because from what I have seen having been to England there is lot of sympathy for him because when the spot-fixing scandal took place he was just 18 or 19 and he later on also quickly admitted his guilt and apologised to everyone,’ Imran said in a talk show on Ary Channel.

‘There is a general wave of sympathy for Amir and my experience says he will get positive press and response in England and this should help him perform well in the coming series,’ Imran said.

The cricketer-turned-politician said those involved in the scandal of 2010 had admitted their guilt and moved on and the fears that Amir and the Pakistan team could face problems in England were unfounded.

Amir was only issued a visa for the series after the Pakistan Cricket Board obtained the assistance of the England and Wales Cricket Board and the British High Commission and filed a separate case for his visa.

Imran, who led Pakistan to their only World Cup crown in 1992, also laughed off the concept of having three different captains for the three formats of cricket in Pakistan.

‘Pakistan cricket was damaged because a person who did election fixing was rewarded with a position in the Pakistan cricket board,’ he said referring to the presence of former caretaker chief minister of Punjab, Najam Sethi in the board.

‘One of the negatives of his decision making is that now we have three captains for the three formats and I look at it as a joke because how can you have continuity in your team like this,’ Imran said.

The former captain made it clear he believed in having one captain for all formats. ‘If I had been there I would have had Misbah-ul-Haq as captain in the recent World T20,’ he added.