Mohammad Amir announces Pakistan retirement: "I am being mentally tortured"

The left-arm seamer brings the curtain down on an 11-year international career after complaining of management pressure

Mohammad Amir has confirmed his retirement from international cricket after claiming to have been "pushed away" by Pakistan.

The 28-year-old, who ended his Test career last year, made 147 appearances for his country across the formats.

That included 61 one-day internationals and 50 T20s. In all, he took 259 wickets.

Amir was omitted from the squad currently on tour in New Zealand. His last outing came in the second T20 international against England in August.

He confirmed the decision in an interview to TV news channel Samaa in which he criticised team management and claimed he was overworked.

Here is Pakistani fast bowler @iamamirofficial announcing retirement from international cricket as protest against Pak team management’s behaviour. he was talking to me pic.twitter.com/TMC2LDEZHb

— Shoaib Jatt (@Shoaib_Jatt) December 17, 2020

"I am not going away from cricket but I am being pushed away from it," he told Samaa TV.

"The environment that has been created, I feel that I cannot play cricket under this management.

"I feel that I am leaving cricket at this time because I am being mentally tortured."

A PCB statement later announced that Amir had "confirmed to the PCB chief executive that he has no desires or intentions of playing international cricket and as such, he should not be considered for future international matches".

Now a regular on the global T20 circuit, Amir is regarded as one of the best limited-overs bowlers around. Recent years have seen him represent the likes of Essex, Karachi Kings, Galle Gladiators and Khulna Tigers.

However, in 2010 his involvement in the spot-fixing affair during Pakistan's tour of England saw him banned for five years. He also served half of a six-month sentence in a young offenders institute after the case went to trial.

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