Kill sin, not sinner: Shoaib Akhtar tells BBC after its 'spot-fixer' jibe on Mohammad Amir

To all my friends here is wishing you all a very happy E-id. May Almighty Allah bless you all with peace, health and prosperity. I also pray for the victims of terror attacks in Medina Pak, may their souls rest in peace and the perpetrators of this shameful act are punished. I have been to Hajj myself and can figure out the spots where the blasts happened. This makes me even more sick. Cricket wise it has been fun reading in the media how my friend and now India’s coach Anil Kumble has started his new innings. I think all the controversies and public spat between Sourav Ganguly and Ravi Shastri helped Anil as it took spotlight away from him. By the way I thought the whole Ganguly-Shastri issue was avoidable. Seeing two former captains having a go at each other in public is not ideal. I hope we have seen the last of it and need to move on. I will come to Kumble and Indian cricket in a while as I first need to share with you my views on the treatment Mohammed Amir is getting in England. Well, having played in England I always knew that there will be hostile attacks but BBC has taken it to another level. I cannot say that I am an expert in how media should go about their job but I can safely say that there needs to be restrain and respect. For those who don’t know let me share that one of the oldest media houses in the world gave the headline: “Spot-fixer Amir takes three wickets on return”. I think it was in poor taste. I cannot understand that after Amir has gone through his share of punishments and turmoil why would you like to stereotype him as “spot-fixer”. Yes, he committed a mistake, he got a punishment for that and we should move on. Media as an important stakeholder should help him move on as well rather than dumping him in the darkness of his forgetful past. I know the counter claim to that will be that Amir has drawn this fate upon himself and he will have to live his stigma all his life. But then I thought the idea was to kill the sin and not the sinner. May be these are pressure tactics from England who feel that Amir can be thorn in their flesh. English are known to do this, so I won’t be surprised if that is the case. July 14th, Lord’s is the stage for first Test match between Pakistan and England. I won’t be surprised if there are few more controversies in the leadup. I am confident that Pakistan team is wise enough not to get sucked in by any of that. They should focus on the job at hand and care about the scorelines rather than the headlines. While Pakistan will be playing England, India will be having a relatively easier opposition, West Indies. I read the news of Kumble engaging in a lot of team-bonding exercise during the lead up camp. I think it was a smart move to get MS Dhoni and selectors in the meeting as well as that means Kumble means in inclusive progress. He is not categorising players are present and former or wanted and sidelined; he wants every important stakeholder to have a say and be a part of this journey. By doing this he is not only creating a healthy atmosphere in setup led by dual captains but also silencing any disgruntled voices, if any. This surely is a good start to what looks to be a promising tenure for Anil Kumble. Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.