Mohammad Amir has been in the spotlight for quite some time now due to his controversial comments. The same can be said for Ramiz Raja during his time as Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman and even after that. Recently, the Ramiz vs Amir war was triggered due to the change of management in PCB.
The pacer and his unresolved concerns with the management continued long after his retirement.
Mohammad Amir’s retirement was not only sudden but also unfortunate. Instead of improving himself in domestic cricket and then waiting for his turn, he decided to say goodbye to cricket. His main reason for retirement was his disagreements with the management and those concerns continued until now.
He was also not satisfied with Ramiz Raza who was not long ago the head of PCB. After Najam Sethi took over, we could see Amir and Ramiz taking digs at each other.
The 30th-year-old talked about how there was nothing wrong with Sethi’s appointment as chairman of PCB.
“You are saying they launched an attack, describing the way they entered. I think the way the previous government brought you, similarly the new one brought them. “
He also then went on to express his admiration for the current chairman and discuss the shortcomings of the former one.
“Najam Sethi had stepped down from his position quietly. He didn’t point fingers at anyone, neither did he do any paid TV interviews, where he claimed that he has been done wrong. If you start counting his achievements, there are plenty. When Zimbabwe first toured in 2015-16, he was there. No one was ready to buy PSL, he ensured that it happened. The list is endless and he could have also cried on TV. But you did nothing and talk too much. The amount of damage you’ve done from 2019-2022, I think Najam Sethi will have to work a lot to rectify them.”
Does the return of Sethi also mean the return of Amir?
Seems like the feeling of admiration between Ramiz and Sethi is mutual because the new chairman in a subtle way came out to support the bowler in the whole Ramiz vs Amir fiasco.
“I will not stop Mohammad Amir if he wants to make himself available to play for Pakistan again. A player who has admitted his guilt, helped the ICC to stop match-fixing and corruption, and then paid a five-year penalty for being outside of cricket deserves to come back.“Mohammad Amir thinks he is not dealt with fairly by the previous regime of PCB, including selection committee and chairman Ramiz Raja.”
He also did not seem to agree with what the former player and chairman thought about fixing.
“Ramiz Raja thinks whoever has committed corruption in cricket should never be allowed to play for Pakistan again. This is not my view. I believe someone who has paid the penalty should be allowed to make a comeback for Pakistan.”
Ramiz vs Amir’s war of words heated up regarding the topic of fixing
However, Ramiz’s stance differs from Sethi and it was revealed in his recent interview on SAMMA.
“I think no one should have had the chance of coming back to Pakistan cricket. If Wasim Akram’s name is in there, and he was censured for not cooperating, right? It was a borderline case. If I was the decision maker at the time, I would’ve banned them forever. You brought them back to system. I wasn’t in power at the time. We were told to play with them and work with them, and that was it. No one knew how to tackle that. So many people were involved in that. I don’t know what the compulsion was.”
Amir did not hold back as usual and responded to his comments.
“If 100 people do not agree with me, maybe 10 will,” Amir said. “His stance doesn’t change for other people but the rule doesn’t apply to him. If you see his old videos, he had said that he wouldn’t stay for a minute if Imran Khan left. He’s a well-read person, that’s why no one thought that he would make such statements. I have moved on [fixing remarks] and this doesn’t bother me anymore.”
Ramiz vs Amir is not pleasing to see as a fan but fans can only hope that it does not continue and turn into something ugly. The ICC ODI world cup is not far away and it would be nice to see a peaceful environment surrounding cricket in Pakistan.
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