Islamabad : After Shoaib Akhtar , now it's Wasim Akram who came out in full support of paceman Mohammad Amir. It can be recalled that Mohammad Amir has been excluded from the 15 men Pakistan World Cup squad.
Prior to the mega event , Pakistan is scheduled to play a five match ODI series against England. Amir , however, found a place in that squad. Akram feels that a good show in that ODI series can bring Amir in the World Cup bound squad.
Youngsters mostly have found their place in the Pakistan squad. Barring a few players , the selectors have preferred youth over experience. Only four players in the team have the 50 over World Cup experience in their Curriculum Vitae. Skipper Sarfraz Ahmed & Harris Sohail (2015) , Shoaib Malik (2007) and Mohammad Hafeez (2007 & 2011) are the only World Cuppers.
The teams have a deadline of May 23 to change their squads.
The 27 year old Amir missed the 2011 & 2015 World Cup editions as he was serving a five year ban due to match fixing charges. Post return , Amir spearheaded Pakistan to Champions Trophy triumph in 2017. He lost his touch since then.
Akram , still have faith in Amir. and considers that Amir can still bounce back. “We can’t discount Amir from the World Cup,” said the player of the 1992 World Cup Grand Finale.
“Amir would have been my first choice for the World Cup considering English conditions where he performs well,” Akram further said.
Akram went on to say that Amir has both youth and experience required for competing at the highest levels of the sport.
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“I am confident that he will do well once his rhythm is back,” said Akram, a veteran of five World Cups in 1987, 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003.
Akram feels a mixture of youth and experience can bring success to a team,
“I am all for youth but experience has no substitute, so we should mix youth with experience,” said Akram who guided Amir during the Pakistan Super League earlier this year.
“He is a good learner so I hope things will come good for him sooner than later ,” Akram said about the struggling pacer.
Pakistan is set to play three one-day matches against county teams before taking on England in the five-match ODI series May 5.
The squad will then play two warm-up World Cup games against Afghanistan May 24 and Bangladesh May 26, before taking on the West Indies in their first World Cup match in Nottingham May 31.
