LAHORE: Pakistan cricket is braced for another storm after former Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez and current one-day skipper Azhar Ali refused to train with tainted paceman Mohammad Amir in an ongoing fitness camp, set up for the upcoming New Zealand tour.

Both Azhar and Hafeez conveyed their reproach to the Board. The experienced campaigners were supposed to join the camp on Thursday, three days after it commenced on Dec 21.

However, the duo preferred to stay away from the camp as Amir had been attending the camp since its start after getting permission from the PCB.

Earlier, Hafeez had voiced concerns against Amir’s return to the Pakistan team because of his role in the 2010 notorious spot-fixing case for which he was banned for five years by the ICC while a court in England also convicted him apart from holding former captain Salman Butt and another fast bowler Mohammad Asif responsible.

However, the PCB is now in an odd situation with the veteran all-rounder being joined by Azhar in his disapproval of Amir’s return to the national outfit.

It seems the PCB has committed a mistake by not taking into confidence all the three captains before giving the tainted fast bowler the go-ahead to attend the conditioning camp.

Though the PCB is not ready to make any comment in this regard, a meeting between PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and Azhar is quite possible to redress the pair’s grievances over Amir’s return to the squad.

Though Amir has completed his ban apart from undergoing the rehabilitation programme which means legally he is eligible to play for Pakistan, the country’s cricket governing body must have taken input from the three captains to assess the impending tense atmosphere in the dressing room with the arrival of the tainted pacer.

On the other hand, a PCB official confided that both the experienced players were not happy with Amir’s return, saying that both were not ready to repose trust in him.

However, one thing that could hardly be ruled out is that the ODI skipper and Hafeez have sensed the return of two other disgraced cricketers — Salman and Asif — which may put Azhar and Hafeez’ places in danger.

It also deserves a mention that Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq in his reaction to Amir’s return said that it was the domain of the PCB to allow any player to play for Pakistan while the same views were also expressed by T20 skipper Shahid Afridi.

However, the PCB has seemingly underestimated Azhar as captain by not considering him worthy of being consulted over Amir’s possible return to the national outfit.

On the other hand, ODI captain Azhar while sharing his thoughts over Amir’s return categorically said that he won’t attend the camp as long as Amir was there but also added that he was ready to discuss the matter with the authorities concerned.

Veteran all-rounder Hafeez was the first cricketer who as member of the Pakistan team took a stance against Amir by allegedly refusing to play for the BPL outfit Amir was also playing for.

Also, Amir was the lone Pakistan player who excelled with the ball in the BPL prompting the PCB to give him an opportunity as Pakistan have struggled in the bowling department of late.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2015