Amir represented Pakistan in 36 Tests, 61 One-day Internationals and 50 Twenty20 Internationals. Recently he participated in Lanka Premier League where he represented the runners-up Galle Gladiators.

The 29-year-old dejected fast bowler asked the PCB Chief Executive Waseem Khan that the management should not consider him for any future international matches, said a PCB statement said.

He was unhappy when his name was not included in the 35-member squad for the New Zealand tour. He thinks that it was a wakeup call for him. “I am leaving cricket for now because I’m being mentally tortured. I don’t think I can bear such torture. I’ve borne lots of torture from 2010 to 2015,” Amir said.

In July 2019, Amir had announced his retirement from Test cricket, saying he would continue playing white-ball cricket for Pakistan. The pacer cited workload as the reason for his decision. Within a month of Amir’s announcement, pacer Wahab Riaz also announced retirement from Test cricket.

Despite the glamour and money in the shortest version of the game, Test cricket is still considered the premier format. It is the best format to check any player’s skills, patience and fitness.

Amir’s decision to leave Test cricket at the young age of 27 was widely criticised by former cricketers.

Former fast bowlers Wasim Akram and Shoaib Akhtar criticised his decision. Shoaib said Pakistan invested in Amir after his comeback from spot-fixing ban and it was time for the pacer to pay back.

Angry Shoaib also said that at a time when Pakistan’s run in Test matches is so poor, Amir was needed. “If I were part of the selection board, I would not have allowed these boys to play T20s.

There are times when you should make money but this is the time when Pakistan needs you,” he said.

Bowling coach Waqar Younis after Amir’s retirement from Test cricket said that he and head coach Misbah-ul-Haq were upset by it. He said both of them felt he was required on the tour to Australia. “But it is a blessing for us that we have so many pace bowlers to pick from,” he added.

Amir lamented that his decision to retire from Test cricket was linked to his participation in T20 leagues.

After just one year, he has hung his boots for all formats of international cricket for Pakistan.

In the early days of his career, Amir was compared with legend Wasim Akram for his exceptional ability to swing the ball into, or away from, the batsmen. But the ban for five years for spot-fixing in 2010 badly damaged his career.

Amir last played for Pakistan in T20Is in England in August this year. He ends his international cricket with 259 wickets: 119 in Tests, 81 in ODIs and 59 in T20Is.

He was part of the Pakistan squad which won the 2009 World T20I. Upon his return to the international side, Amir led Pakistan’s formidable pace attack and helped the side win its maiden International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy title in 2017.

Amir made his debut as a 17-year-old in July 2009 and played 14 Tests, picking up 51 wickets at 29.09.

In 2010, he was, along with his new ball partner Mohammad Asif and then Pakistan captain Salman Butt, banned from cricket for five years and handed jail sentences.

As he was very young at that time, he remained in jail for only six months and was inducted in the team in 2016.

When Amir was banned, he was at his peak and according to a Pakistan cricket statistician in those five years he would have scalped 250 wickets in Tests and ODIs.

Before the ban, Amir averaged 24.00 in ODIs. After his comeback in 2016, he averaged 39.17. In 36 ODIs, he conceded 1371 runs and took just 35 wickets without a four-wicket haul.

Former Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur said that Amir’s lack of wickets in ODI cricket was a concern.

Amir is still young and energetic. Other Pakistani pacers don’t have much experience of international cricket. Therefore, Amir should be a part of Pakistan national squad for some more years.

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