THE International Cricket Council’s landmark decision to allow Pakistan’s banned paceman Mohammad Amir to return to domestic cricket with immediate effect has given the young pacer a new lease of life besides making headlines everywhere.

Amir, now 22, was banned by ICC from all cricket along with fellow players Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif following the infamous spot-fixing scam during the Pakistan tour of England in 2010.

Take a look: Will Amir's return hurt Pakistan cricket? No.

While Amir’s ban technically expires on Sept 2 this year, he has been permitted to make an early return to the game by the ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit that used its discretionary powers to facilitate the left-arm bowler for showing remorse and for cooperating with the unit’s ongoing investigations against corruption in cricket.

Here, one must also not discount the role of the Pakistan Cricket Board that keenly pursued Amir’s case with the ICC. Its persistence paid off with cricket’s governing body approving a provision to allow banned players to make an early return to the game.

Amir, a bowler of immense talent, was hailed as a prodigy at the time of his international debut in 2009. He vindicated the experts’ faith in him by turning out impressive performances in all formats of the game. Having said that, Amir faces, perhaps, the stiffest challenge of his career today.

Firstly, he will have to prove his detractors wrong by throwing off the stigma attached to his name and playing the gentleman’s game in its true spirit to take his career further. Secondly, he will have to convince the selectors that he has not lost any of the sting or panache in his bowling despite his almost five-year-long absence from the game, if he harbours any serious hopes of representing Pakistan again.

Amir has vowed that his teammates and fans will find him a different man this time round and, to be fair to the young bowler, one feels he deserves a second chance after having served his punishment for a blunder committed in his formative years.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2015

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