Chronic knee injury poses question mark over Amir’s England tour

Pakistan Test team on Sunday suffered a major blow after speedster Mohammed Amir was forced to leave the field with a "chronic" left knee injury which he sustained on the third day of the Test against Ireland in Dublin. Though the visitors are comfortably placed in the ongoing Test against the Irish but injury to Amir has posed questions on his participation in the 2-Test series against England scheduled later this month.

New Delhi: Pakistan Test team on Sunday suffered a major blow after speedster Mohammed Amir was forced to leave the field with a "chronic" left knee injury which he sustained on the third day of the Test against Ireland in Dublin. Though the visitors are comfortably placed in the ongoing Test against the Irish but injury to Amir has posed questions on his participation in the 2-Test series against England scheduled later this month.

The 26-year-old suffered injury during Ireland’s second innings. After a fiery spell of three overs at the start, Amir limped-off to the pavilion but returned soon back to the field. Amir was seen walking gingerly on the field but came back to bowl again. Two balls in, struggle for Amir got worse and after a lengthy discussion with captain Sarfraz Ahmed, the seamer he eventually walked off.

Towards the end of the day bowling coach Azhar Mahmood elaborated on the injury saying, “He has got a chronic knee problem which has slightly flared up. Hopefully, he will be okay tomorrow to bowl for us. He's having treatment and hopefully tonight we will do a bit more treatment, tomorrow morning, ice as well, so he will be fine.”

Since his comeback in 2016 after serving a ban of five years, Amir has bowled more international overs than any other Pakistan fast bowler. Admitting to the fact that Amir in Test cricket is Pakistan's greatest priority, bowling coach Azhar admitted that a check has to be kept on Amir’s workload.

"We want him to play Test cricket because he is our No.1 bowler and we want him to run in and bowl for us. Workload - I have seen a lot of fast bowlers and their body can't take it, so they just manage to play one format or two formats, but for him it's a concern for us but hopefully we will manage his workload in the future," said Azhar.

After the ongoing one-off Test against Ireland, Pakistan are scheduled to play two Tests against England. The first Test is scheduled to start from May 24 in London while the second Test will be played in Leeds from June 1.