Shoaib Akhtar keen to mentor Amir

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar says he is eager to take young speedster Mohammad Amir under his wing and guide him back to the national team following his return to cricket after a five-year ban.

Amir, 23, says he is no rush to return to the national team, preferring to focus on domestic cricket after taking seven wickets in a practice match last week.

Amir was suspended along with then-captain Salman Butt and fellow quick Mohammad Asif for bowling no-balls to order as part of a complex betting scam exposed by a tabloid sting during Pakistan's tour of England in 2010.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) lifted all sanctions on the trio earlier this month, making them eligible for domestic and international matches.

Quick Single: 'I've been given a new life': Amir

The fastest bowler Pakistan has produced, Akhtar said he was interested in becoming a franchise owner for the forthcoming Pakistan Super League (PSL) Twenty20 tournament to be staged in the UAE in February, and wanted to recruit Amir.

"I am planning to buy a team in the PSL and would like to have Amir in my team so that I can guide him and make him an effective bowler," Akhtar, who retired in 2011, told AFP.

Now 40, Akhtar's career briefly overlapped with Amir, who made his debut in 2009 aged 17.

The pair shared the attack in two one-day internationals in the 2010 Asia Cup and two Twenty20s against Australia in England the same year, before Amir's career crashed to a halt following the ban.

Quick Single: Amir sets sight on domestic season

"Everyone knows how talented Amir was when he played cricket so on his return he will have to work hard to become the same bowler," Akhtar said.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has devised a rehabilitation programme for the players, with Amir already playing grade cricket since April this year under a special dispensation by the ICC.

He picked up seven wickets in his last match, a non-first-class qualifier for the Sui Southern Gas Company, with a cunning mix of inswingers, outswingers, bouncers and varied angles from over and around the wicket.

"My focus is on domestic cricket at the moment and it would be premature for me to start thinking about when or if I will play for Pakistan again," Amir told PakPassion.net.

"I'm not worrying over when I will play for Pakistan, instead I am just focussing on my domestic form and then leaving the rest to the selectors.

"I have to take things step-by-step and not try to get ahead of myself. International cricket is a tough environment, it's not a joke. There is a lot of pressure on you in international cricket and I feel that I have to ensure that I am fully ready before I'm talked about for an international recall.

"When I play four-day cricket that will be a true test of my levels of fitness and whether I still have the ability to swing the ball both ways. I'm feeling stronger with each match but playing four-day cricket will be a sterner test of my abilities."

While some influential voices, including ex-captain-turned-commentator Ramiz Raja, have voiced their opposition to the spot-fixing trio ever being allowed to represent their country again, Akhtar said it was right for them to get a second chance.

"I have seen them suffer in the last five years so all three must be treated in the same manner," he said.

"Imagine Pakistan's attack with Amir, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Shahid Afridi and Yasir Shah and if they play together we can win the next World Twenty20."

Pakistan-India series hopes fade

Meanwhile, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan fears the chances of a series against India in December is fading, with the Indian government delaying its approval for the series between the fierce rivals.

"I don't want to give India any ultimatum," Khan told reporters in Lahore on Tuesday.

"(But) the chances (of a series) are getting slimmer because I think their problem is they mix politics with sports."

Both the PCB and the Board of Control for Cricket in India last year signed a Memorandum of Understanding to play six series between 2015 and 2023, with Pakistan hosting India for Tests, ODIs and Twenty20s in the United Arab Emirates in December.

Khan said he had raised the issue of Pakistan v India series with BCCI officials at least three times during various ICC meetings since he took over as PCB chairman last September.

"We are not pleading them, we are not kneeling down, we are just telling them that you have signed a MoU and tell us whether you are honouring it or not," Khan said.

Quick Single: Afridi calls for end to India tour

The PCB chairman hopes India will decide either way about December's tour and he is likely to meet with BCCI secretary general Anurag Thakur on the sidelines of an ICC meeting in UAE in October.

"Now the ball is in the Indian court," he said.

"I will talk to whosoever comes from India and tell him that so far you haven't taken the permission from your government, which is quite unfair."

The countries have not played a Test since India beat Pakistan 1-0 at home in 2007.

Khan insisted the PCB could financially survive even without playing against its arch-rival.

"We are not going to plead them to come and play, after all we haven't played against them for the last seven to eight years," he said.