Released Amir faces uncertain future

Teenage Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir faces an uncertain future following his release from jail this week after serving half of a six-month-sentence for his role in a spot-fixing scandal. The 19-year-old’s burgeoning career was cut short when he pleaded guilty to charges of corruption in a scandal that surfaced in August 2010 and rocked the sporting world.
Amir, once considered the hottest property in international cricket after a rapid rise from village boy to famed bowler, now knows nothing about what life has in store for him. He emerged on the scene in 2009, regarded as a better left-arm paceman than the legendary Wasim Akram at the same age. With 51 wickets in just 14 Tests, Amir was on the verge of getting the ICC emerging player award in 2010 — but his career and life then derailed. The charges were related to bowling deliberate no-balls by Amir and pace partner Mohammad Asif in a Lord’s Test against England, contrived with then captain Salman Butt and trio’s agent Mazhar Majeed in return for big money.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) banned the trio for a minimum of five years while a UK court last year sent Amir to jail for six months, Asif for 12, Butt for 30 and Majeed for 32.
That scandal not only destroyed three top class careers but also shook the cricket world which demanded stricter penalties and measures to curb corruption, with many people feeling sympathy for the young Amir.
As soon as Amir was released from prison on Wednesday, speculation started about whether his career can be reignited. Amir’s former lawyer, Shahid Karim, believes the paceman can appeal against the ICC ban in the Switzerland based Court of Arbitration for Sports, however some experts believe his pleading guilty means he cannot. Former paceman Waqar Younis backed a reduction in the ban but there is no such provision in the ICC code in which the minimum penalty is a five-year-ban. Former England captain Mike Brearley, also part of ICC’s Task Team on Pakistan, showed sympathy for Amir.
“We also need to recognise that the pressure put on the young player by criminal bookies or their agents, or by their corrupt team-mates, can be appalling…some of those involved might need to be treated with compassion, especially if they admit their guilt,” Brearley said last year.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) legal adviser Taffazul Rizvi said Amir will have to undergo a rehabilitation programme under ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Safety Unit (ACSU).
Amir’s ban can be reduced: The International Cricket Council Executive Board is the only authority which could revoke the five-year ban on Mohammad Amir.
An ICC official revealed that it can only be done under exceptional circumstances. “I believe he has to undergo rigorous rehabilitation before he is considered for such a concession at the executive board.”
The ICC sources said that someone have to form a programme for the rehabilitation. “It maybe the ICC or the nearest possible board of that player that is the PCB or the ICC prepares and is assisted by the PCB or the PCB prepares and the ICC makes some additions to that programme. But in all these circumstances Aamir has to take the rehab programe. In fact it’s the domain of the anti-corruption unit to look into the issue. They maybe formulating a formula for such players rehabilitation,” he added.
The ICC official said that it’s all parties who have to decide the proper course and most importantly its Amir who has to agree upon taking the rehabilitation programme like taking course, getting into involved in lectures on the platform of the PCB anti-corruption unit. “He has been involved in the crime and he has admitted that so I don’t see him going to the court of arbitration for appeal.
“As of review or reconsidering the five-year ban, the ICC commission imposed on him, it is already the minimum of the punishment and that cannot be reduced further and there is no provision to change that decision. The ICC has to work on that provided Amir take proper rehabilitation and comes out such a reformed person that everyone say that he is a changed person and only then the Executive board would be able to take a decision but only in exceptional circumstances,” the official added. There maybe soft corner for him but its due to his tender age and not for the crime he has committed and he has to follow the process to return to serious cricket, the official maintained.