Irfan Pathan Distances Himself From Amir Pick

Irfan Pathan has moved quickly to make one thing clear: Mohammad Amir's arrival at Kandahar Warriors was not his doing. The former India all-rounder, who works with the franchise as a brand ambassador, said player selection is simply not part of his job, and pointed instead to the two men who do carry that responsibility — captain Rashid Khan and head coach Ravi Bopara. The comments came after a draft pick that was always going to draw attention. Amir, the former Pakistan fast bowler, was Kandahar's first selection of the Afghanistan Premier League draft in Dubai on 3 November, taken as a Platinum overseas pick at $100,000 after registering for the tournament as a British citizen.

What Pathan said

The question put to Pathan was inevitable. A former India international fronting an Afghan franchise that has just signed a Pakistani fast bowler was bound to be asked how the signing happened, and Pathan answered it head-on. "My work is to be a brand ambassador. My work isn't at the level of drafting players," he said, adding that Rashid, as captain, and Bopara, as head coach, are the people responsible for squad decisions. He said he would offer a view if the management asked for one, but would not expect to be consulted as a matter of course.

Pathan also made a point about Amir himself. An experienced campaigner with years of franchise cricket behind him, Amir needs little in the way of guidance, Pathan suggested — certainly less than the younger players in the squad. His own focus, he said, will be on Afghanistan's emerging cricketers: the young bowlers and batters who want a sounding board, and whom he will be there to help.

Why Amir's signing drew the questions

Amir's route into the draft is what made the pick a talking point in the first place. He registered as a British citizen, which puts him outside the Pakistan Cricket Board's clearance process at a moment when the board has refused no-objection certificates to every Pakistani player who signed up for the league. More than 30 Pakistani players had registered for the draft. Amir, who lives in England, was the only one of them to be picked, and Kandahar took him with the very first selection of the draft.

That context is also why Pathan's answer matters beyond the franchise. The signing is entirely within the rules — Amir holds a British passport and entered the draft as a UK national — but it sits right next to a dispute between the PCB and the league, and Pathan clearly wanted no part of being cast as the man who made it happen. By naming Rashid and Bopara, and by describing his own role in plain terms, he drew the line before anyone else could draw it for him.

The squad Kandahar built around him

Whatever the debate around the pick, the cricket case for it is straightforward. Amir joins a Kandahar side led by Rashid Khan, one of the finest T20 bowlers of his generation, and the squad around them has real depth. Veteran all-rounder Mohammad Nabi and England batter Joe Clarke came in the Diamond round, while Sri Lanka's Kusal Perera, England quick Tymal Mills and South Africa's Dwaine Pretorius are among the overseas names in the group. It is, on paper, the most star-studded squad of the five, and the Platinum order underlined that: after Amir, the other overseas Platinum picks were Moeen Ali, Alex Hales, Johnson Charles and Wanindu Hasaranga.

The draft itself, held in Dubai on Tuesday 3 November, saw 90 players picked from a pool of 462 across six categories and 18 rounds, leaving each franchise with a 19-man squad. The five captains had been settled beforehand — Rashid at Kandahar, Azmatullah Omarzai at Akcel United Kabul, Ibrahim Zadran at Balkh, Rahmat Shah at Nangarhar and Rahmanullah Gurbaz at Paktia — and the season itself begins on 27 December in the UAE.

What happens next

For Pathan, the next seven weeks are about the work he did sign up for. He has said he will be available to Kandahar's young Afghan bowlers and batters, sharing the experience of a career spent at the top of the game. For Amir, the countdown is to 27 December, when he will bowl his first ball in the league as a Kandahar Warrior — the one Pakistani picked in the draft, and the first name called on the night. Whether the questions follow him into the tournament is another matter; Pathan, at least, has already given his answer.