Furious Mohammad Amir at a PSL game shows why his international career was cut short

Pakistan's former left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir has always been known for his brash attitude. Once a promising cricketer who made heads turn at the age of 17 when he made his international debut, Amir's career came crashing down just because he never found his feet on the ground.

Just over an year after making his international debut, Amir was charged with spot-fixing. He was given another chance after his ban was over, but a poor attitude and being involved dressing room politics led to his early retirement from international cricket.

A prime example of his poor attitude was seen during a Pakistan Super League (PSL) match between Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings on February 14 at the National Stadium in Karachi. During the sixth over of the match, Amir, after being smashed for a boundary, threw the ball in frustration towards Babar Azam, which left everyone surprised. 

Mohammad Amir throws ball towards Babar Azam in frustration🤯pic.twitter.com/TAqV3xaS1W

— Cricket Pakistan (@cricketpakcompk) February 15, 2023

The incident rattled senior cricketer and Mohammad Amir's teammate Shoaib Malik. After the game, commenting on the incident, Malik said: "I believe the respect element shouldn't be missing."

Though Babar did not react, the pacer's reaction gave a glimpse of what led to Mohammad Amir's downfall.

A promising start: Already a promising name in domestic cricket,Amir made his way to the national side at the age of 17. In his first outing against England in ICC T20 World Cup in 2009, Amir got England batter Ravi Bopara on the second ball of the innings and conceded just one run in his first international over.

• On his One Day International (ODI) debut, Amir clinched three wickets against Sri Lanka and on his Test debut, he clinched six wickets in the match, including the prized wicket of Kumara Sangakkara, in both the innings, as well as the wicket of Mahela Jayawardene.

Spot-fixing: But soon, a Test series in England in 2010 brought his career to a halt, as he, along with two other cricketers, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, were caught for spot fixing.

• Amir was banned for 5 years but was allowed to play for the national side in 2016. 

Second stint: His second stint started off well as he displayed brilliance against the arch-rivals India at the 2016 Asia Cup. In the match, Pakistan were bowled out for 83. Amir, during his spell, took two wickets in his first over, putting the whole Indian team under pressure.

• In 2017's Champions Trophy final against India, after Aamir dismissed Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the same over, he got a standing ovation from his Head Coach Micky Arthur. Amir took three wickets in the match, and Pakistan won the Champions trophy.
• In 2018, Amir could hardly pull out a good performance and was involved more in internal politics of the team. 

Promising career cut short: In 2019, he was part of the World Cup squad, and finished the tournament as the leading wicket-taker of Pakistan with 17 dismissals in eight matches.

• But that was the end of it. No one knew what happened, but Amir announced his retirement from international cricket in 2020, saying that he was mentally tortured by Coaching staff Waqar Younis and Misbah-ul-Haq on more than one occasion. Amir had leveled allegations against the duo for spoiling his image.
• Though Amir had still a lot of cricket left in him, his involvement in dressing room politics, ultimately led to the end of his career. 

Targeting Pakistan: Amir, didn't chose to keep quiet and even received a lot of flak from Pakistani fans over his comments on Pakistan team after the team lost to England in the T20 World Cup final. Amir had said: "Log samajhte hai main tanqeed karta hu, mai cricketing sense se baat karta hoon. Ham final khel gaye bohot badi baat hai, ham deserve nahi karte they. Jis tarah ham final pahuche, wo poori duniya ko pata hai (People think I'm criticising, but I'm talking with my cricketing sense. We played final, that's enough. We didn't deserve to be here. Everyone knows how we reached so far), Amir said.

• He targetting Pakistani batters saying: "Aap batsmen ki performances nikalen, nikle na Sydney se baahar nikaalen..ye hi hona tha" (You see our batsmen stats, you will know. I said earlier that outside Sydney,they will struggle, and that's what happened).
• These comments were received with lot of resentment by Pakistani fans and nearly everyone slammed Amir for criticizing the team so hard.

Amir himself responsible for his downfall: In short, Mohammad Amir along side Mohammad Asif, were two of the finest bowlers in the world and not only in Pakistan. But a wrong attitude towards the game and meddling into the affairs of dressing room cost them their careers.

• Amir, despite being given a second chance, couldn't get a hold on himself. The result was, a bowler who made his debut at 17 retired at 28, with five years lost in match fixing and played only for 6 years.