Amir: A Prodigious Talent Who Went Astray

Great things were predicted for him and a Test match haul of a minimum of 300 wickets was a cinch for him...

- Partab Ramchand

He had the cricketing world at his feet. When he burst upon the scene as a 17-year-old Mohammad Amir was quickly hailed as the best left-arm fast bowler since Wasim Akram. And even after the early excitement about his bowling died down it still seemed to be a fair assessment.

For he was wowing the critics with his ferocious pace and late swing even as he left the best of batsmen bewildered, bemused and beaten. Time and again he had them caught behind or in the slip cordon with a late outswinger or they would be palpably legging before to a fast diaper. The yorker and bouncer were judiciously used as surprise weapons and he had it in him to be the complete fast bowler.