Daily Times

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has invited tainted fast bowler Mohammad Aamir for a national training camp starting at the Gaddafi Stadium here from December 21. Aamir is among 26 players selected for the conditioning camp for Pakistan’s upcoming tour of New Zealand. The camp, which concludes on January 6, will also serve as a test to assess the fitness of players leading into the World Twenty20 2016 to be held in India in March. Aamir’s bid to make a comeback to the national side has been given a major boost with his induction in the camp.

The national selectors, however, have dropped Sohail Tanvir, while Harris Sohail has been left out because of his continued struggle with a knee injury, which requires him to have surgery in Australia. Rafatullah Mohmand, the 39-year old batsman, and Imran Khan, the pacer, have been axed, while uncapped left-arm seamer Ruman Raees has been included. Senior bowler Umar Gul is also back in contention after doing well in the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy for his team Habib Bank Limited (HBL). Gul’s career has been plagued by a recurring knee injury but he seems to have finally overcome it. Gul was dropped after Pakistan’s ODI series defeat in Bangladesh earlier this year and has missed a major chunk of international cricket since 2013 over fitness and form.

The 26 players, picked by the selection committee and approved by PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan, are likely to form the core of Pakistan’s squad for next year’s World Twenty20. “The main objective of the camp is to improve the overall physical fitness of all players and to enhance the technical aspect of each player’s game and to prepare them for the upcoming international events,” a spokesman for the PCB said on Friday. “PCB chief Shaharyar Khan has approved the names of 26 players picked up by the national selection committee, headed by former Test opener Haroon Rashid,” added the spokesman.

Despite opposition from certain quarters, particularly by former captain Ramiz Raja, the PCB is desperate to include Aamir in the national side after Pakistan’s bowling stocks were clearly found wanting in the recently concluded ODI and T20 series against England. The 23-year-old was also on the brink of selection in the Pakistan ‘A’ side earlier this month but strong opposition from some of the current players put his return in national colours on the back burner.

Ramiz, who is critical of the PCB’s sympathy towards tainted fast bowler, had said that if he had powers to make a call on the matter, he would have never let the young fast bowler play again. “Pakistan cricket has suffered a lot. I don’t have courage to face any more shocks or jolts again. I have experienced this practically and those who have witnessed such things practically can’t forgive the characters involved in the act,” Ramiz had said. The left-armer already has the backing of PCB chief Shaharyar, former captain Wasim Akram, coach Waqar Younis and all-rounder Shoaib Malik who all said that Aamir deserved a second chance. Waqar had a detailed discussion on Aamir’s future with Shaharyar earlier in the month, and said: “We are all on the same page” about the young fast bowler’s future in international cricket. He has served his punishment and he deserves to come back in the cricketing community and enhance his profession,” Waqar had said.

Aamir has been in the limelight ever since he returned to the domestic fold: taking 22 wickets in a Grade II tournament before capturing an impressive 34 in the four qualifying matches of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. He then grabbed 17 wickets in Pakistan’s premier first-class tournament, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. Aamir recently made waves at the Bangladesh Premier League where he dismissed established batsmen and compatriots Shahid Afridi, Misbahul Haq and Mohammad Hafeez. His stint with Chittagong Vikings in the Bangladesh Premier League was a success – he finished the tournament as the highest wicket-taker for the franchise. Aamir’s inclusion may not go down too well with Hafeez, who has voiced concerns over sharing a dressing room with Aamir, claiming that the fast bowler let his country down during the spot-fixing scandal. Aamir, along with Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt, was banned after an ICC tribunal found them guilty of spot-fixing in a case stemming from the 2010 Lord’s Test. The three players, as well as their agent Mazhar Majeed, were also convicted for their wrongdoings in a London court. They were charged with conspiracy to accept corrupt payments, and conspiracy to cheat with regard to the Lord’s Test, when three pre-determined no-balls were bowled – two by Aamir and one by Asif – orchestrated by Salman and arranged by Majeed.

The performance report from the national camp is likely to influence the PCB’s annual retainers next year. Player fitness had been given greater priority since last year and made a compulsion as part of a new clause in the central contracts. The fitness clause became one of the three major criteria – performance and integrity clearance being the others – that define a player’s prospects of making the Pakistan side.

Camp probables are: Ahmad Shahzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Sharjeel Khan, Azhar Ali, Shoaib Malik, Babar Azam, Iftikhar Ahmad, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Bilal Asif, Sohaib Maqsood, Amir Yamin, Wahab Riaz, Anwer Ali, Mohammad Irfan, Umer Gul, Rahat Ali, Junaid Khan, Ruman Raees, Immad Wasim, Yasir Shah, Saad Nasim and Mohammad Aamir.