Karachi: Pakistan's former cricket captain Imran Khan does not expect tainted left-arm pacer Mohammed Aamir to get a hostile reception during the upcoming series in England.
"I don't think he will get a hostile press or reception. From what I have seen, there is lot of sympathy for him in England because when the spot-fixing scandal took place he was just 18 or 19 years old.
"He also quickly admitted his guilt and apologised to everyone," Imran said in a talk show.
"There is a general wave of sympathy for Aamir and my experience says he will get positive press and response in England and this should help him perform well in the coming series," Imran said.
The cricketer-turned-politician said those involved in the scandal of 2010 had admitted their guilt and moved on and the fears that Aamir and the Pakistan team could face problems in England were unfounded.
Aamir was only issued a visa for the series after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) obtained the assistance of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the British High Commission and filed a separate case for his visa.
Imran, who led Pakistan to their only World Cup crown in 1992, also laughed off the concept of having three different captains for the three formats of cricket in Pakistan.
"Pakistan cricket was damaged because a person who did election fixing was rewarded with a position in the PCB," he said, referring to the presence of former caretaker chief minister of Punjab, Najam Sethi, on the board.
"One of the negatives of his decision making is that now we have three captains for the three formats and I look at it as a joke. How can you have continuity in your team then?," Imran said.
The former captain said he believed in having one captain across all formats.
"If I had been there I would have had Misbah-ul Haq as captain in the recent World T20," he added.
Asked if he was saying he would not have had Shahid Afridi as the national T20 captain, Imran said for the sake of continuity, team building and planning there should be one captain.
