Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Former cricketer Aaqib Javed believes left-arm pacer Junaid Khan should have been preferred over Mohammad Amir for the England tour. Pakistan are scheduled to take on England in three Tests and three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), which will be played from August 5 to September 1. Amir was recently included in the Pakistan squad for the aforementioned tour as a replacement for rookie pacer Haris Rauf, after the latter repeatedly tested positive for Covid-19. “The PCB and the selection committee are fans of Mohammad Amir. He is always preferred for some reason. If you compare Junaid’s performance with Amir, then Junaid is not behind but in fact better. Injustice has been done with Junaid and he has been ignored for no reason. The PCB brought Amir back after spot-fixing ban and since then he has given only one noteworthy performance, which was in the 2017 Champions Trophy final. Apart from that, Amir has always struggled since his comeback,” said Aaqib on a local news channel.

“I think he is already going for the Twenty20 International matches because he doesn’t play Tests. When you already have around 10 fast-bowlers in 29-member squad present in England, why do you need to call Amir? There is no clear policy regarding the future,” he added. Earlier this month in an interview, Junaid also rued the lack of consistent chances and support he got from the Pakistan team management as compared to his fellow left-arm pacer, Amir. “I am not jealous of Amir. It is his luck that he got support from the team management despite not performing in 14 or 15 ODIs. Whereas I did not have the same luck, as I was dropped after not performing in only two games,” he said. Junaid made his international debut in all three formats in 2011. The left-arm pacer has represented Pakistan in 22 Test matches, 76 One-day Internationals (ODIs) and nine Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).