We have to manage Amir's workload: Azhar Mahmood

Mohammad Amir’s early exit from the third day’s play against Ireland just over a week before the start of Test series with England has made Pakistan Bowling Coach Azhar Mahmood once again speak up on the need of management regarding his workload.

Left-arm quick Amir went off with what Mahmood said was a recurrence of a 'chronic' left knee injury after a brief spell in Test debutants Ireland’s second innings after Pakistan enforced the follow-on on Sunday.

"The day went well for us, we bowled them out and made them follow-on but unfortunately, we dropped a couple of catches due to which they are 64/0," Mahmood said. "He got treatment [for that] and we will assess tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is another day and we will try and get them out," he added.

Speaking about Pakistan’s decision to declare the innings, he said, "We declared because the game wasn't moving and we thought, we will get a chance to bowl two spells. We got three wickets in that session [before lunch] and that helped us as we were successful in getting them all-out quickly."

"If you look at the FC careers of Ed Joyce and William Porterfield, you will see that they together have about 25,000 runs. They are good players and if you drop their catches then they will make use of those opportunities,” said former all-rounder.

"Amir came back after 5 years and he has played every format for us; we have to manage his workload," he said. "Maybe this is a sign for us to see in the future where he [Amir] stands."

"We have bunch of new guys coming up and we want to have Test bowlers separate from the One-Day and T20 bowlers; We are working on that and hopefully we can come up with something."

"We want him to run in and bowl for us," he added.