Will ashamed and hurt Mohammad Amir divulge more names?
After hearing the verdict, his lawyer has announced they would appeal after careful deliberations. But Mohammad Amir, aged 18, is clearly upset at what unfolded during 20-days hearing at CPS courtroom. He had pleaded guilty, along with the agent Mazhar Majeed before the hearings started.
Although Judge dismissed Amir’s claims that it was a one-off incident on his part, saying he was in contact with Majeed before and after the Lord’s Test, he acknowledged his decision to plead guily and apologise. Amir had apologised through written statement submitted to the court.
He apologised to the people of his country and cricket lovers all around the world. He regretted the fact that he failed to accept the blame much earlier saying, “I did not find the courage to do it at the beginning”.
“I got myself into a situation I did not understand. I panicked and did the wrong thing I did not bowl the no balls for money. I got trapped, and ultimately it was because of my own stupidity.”
In a moving scenario, he described how excited he was when he got to wear his Pakistan shirt for the first time. He remembered how fondly he continued to wear the shirt for hours and watched himself in mirror repeatedly, before removing it reluctantly while going to sleep so that it does not get ruined by sleeping.
The thing that might have slapped his conscious and self must be the accusation made by Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif and their councils. During the Trial, both Butt and Asif laid blame on Amir that he was the main culprit who conspired with Mazhar Majeed. They claimed prosecution's evidence suggested guilt on the part of Amir as he had pleaded guilty along with Majeed.
Chief prosecutor Jafferjee had remarked, “In reality for the purpose of this trial, the sacrificial goat has become Amir."
While giving judgment, Judge Cooke said to Butt; “I consider that you were responsible for involving Amir in the corruption – an 18 year old from a poverty stricken village background, very different to your own privileged one, who, whilst a very talented bowler, would be inclined to do what his senior players and particularly his captain told him, especially when told there was money in it for him and this was part of the common culture.”
He acknowledged Amir’s stand by saying; “You have pleaded guilty to the same two offences as those of which Asif has been convicted. I give you full credit for that plea, which the Prosecution accepts was entered at the first real opportunity. Following the ICC arbitration in Doha, where you contested the allegations, you made it clear to the cricket authorities that you accepted your responsibility for what you had done, despite the situation in which you found yourself where, it seems, activity such as this was widespread.
"You have referred, in material presented to the court, to threats to yourself and your family, saying that there are significant limits to what you can say in public. The reality of those threats and the strength of the underworld influences that control unlawful betting abroad is shown by the supporting evidence in the bundle of documents, including materials from the Anti Corruption and Security Unit of the ICC.”
The dejected Amir must have found time to reflect conscientiously on the events of the past 15 months. A boy, just 17, rose from a village named Changa Bagial and in few months earned wealth and fame many of his countrymen can only dream of in their life times. He soon shifted to a posh locality of Defense in Lahore. His lack of education, improper guidance from PCB and seniors, team culture, influence of seniors and greed made him fall from grace as rapidly as he had risen.
A common cricket fans in Pakistan asks, “Amir! Yar yeh kya ker diya? – Amir! What have you done?” The bubbly young boy who became, in a short span of time, one of world’s fearsome bowlers has inflicted heartache to millions of his fans. He was described as being more talented than Wasim Akram by none other than Imran Khan. A legend like Michael Holding cries for him on TV. But the man himself choses greed over dignity. What a shame1 What a loss!
Will he open up for the sake of the game, and himself, and reveal all that he may have knowledge of, so that the gentleman’s game is eradicated of corruption once for all? This is the question that can risk his life and career even further, but there is also a possibility of redemption for the ultra-talented but disgraced youngster.
He has lost his pride, his earnings and his career, but he still has one opportunity to restore all that, at least in part. In the coming days, cricketing authorities will surely unearth more of the unseen in the fixing mafia, but if Amir comes forward and offers his help, he may still be remembered in a positive way.
