Dada sees Aamer comeback

Sourav Ganguly hopes Mohammad Aamer has learnt plenty of life lessons from his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal so that he returns to the international fold as a reformed character. Shamed paceman Aamer, 19, is currently serving a five-year International Cricket Council ban after being found guilty of corruption by an ICC tribunal for bowling two international no balls in fourth Test match between England and Pakistan at Lord’s in August 2010. He was also released from Portland Young Offenders Institute in February this year, having served half of a six-month sentence following his guilty plea to charges of conspiracy to cheat at gambling and conspiracy to accept corrupt payments. The talented, if tainted, left-arm seamer recently gave an interview with ex-England captain Michael Atherton, where he accused former skipper Salman Butt of “manipulating” him and “taking advantage” of their friendship. That statement is widely thought to be Aamer’s opening gambit in a concerted bid to come back into the reckoning with Pakistan, with Rahul Dravid believing it “great” if he could so. However, Ganguly merely hopes Amir’s experiences over the last 18 months have been beneficial on a personal level, if not exactly a professional one. “He’s a young kid – a 19-year-old kid – and I’m sure he’s going to get another chance in international cricket, but this will teach him a lot of good things,” ‘Dada’, 39, said. “We understand he was young and people make mistakes in life – we all do – but this was a very serious one. “He’s been rightly punished by the ICC and I hope this teaches him a lot of things in life. “Whether he was right or wrong, it’s gone too far for me to say. He’s been punished by the ICC and the courts of London and, hopefully, it makes him a better person.” Meanwhile, Ganguly has also hailed Sachin Tendulkar’s century of centuries as a historic feat that will not now be matched by any batsman owing to the demands of the sport in the current climate. “It’s a colossal achievement and nobody can break it because I doubt anybody can play for 23 years in the modern game,” explained Ganguly, who will be representing the Marylebone Cricket Club in the Emirates Airline Twenty20 at 7he Sevens ground on Friday. “That’s a long time in cricket. There’s so much cricket these days – with Twenty20s, Test cricket and one-day cricket – that I doubt anybody will play for 23 years, so getting to that landmark will be unachievable.” Ganguly also insists Tendulkar – and he alone – should be allowed to finally call time on his illustrious career as and when he chooses, adding: “There’s no pressure on Tendulkar. Trust me, in India, this is all news that makes one-day headlines, but – honestly – there’s no pressure on Tendulkar. “He will play until the time he wants to stop and – let’s be honest – he’s earned that right. “When you get to a hundred international hundreds, you earn a bit more of a right than the others and he deserves every bit of it.”