MOHAMMAD AMIR

My favourite ground is The Oval because I have a lot of memories on that ground.

I didn't pick up a ball for three years. It was very depressing for me because, as a professional, it's very difficult when you can't use the facilities, play cricket; you can't even touch the ball, so what are you going to do then?

I wish there were no free hit off a no-ball.

I come from a village, Changa Bangyaal. It is a very beautiful village. I am from a poor family. Right from the beginning, I always had a great deal of love for cricket.

Although I was good at my studies, I also thought to myself that I should play cricket as well. And when the cricket team that consisted of the boys from our village used to play, I was able to play with the team that had older players.

Playing cricket in England is what I am looking forward to, and I would love to bowl at Lord's again.

I never challenged the ICC verdict. This means I accepted my punishment. It is mentioned in Islamic law that you have got to be punished if you commit a mistake. What is important is that I have learnt my lesson.

I got so famous with so many new people entering my life. You can imagine how it was for an 18-year-old who was playing effortlessly and savouring every moment of my success. I had lost all sense of reality.

I think the more cricket you play, the more you will learn about yourself and learn about life in general.

You can't push and force people to do what they don't want to do.

I want to be the best cricketer I can be for my country. If I work hard, the main aim for me is to be the world's best bowler.

The main thing for a bowler is his wrist position, and that, as I've said before, is something I'm working on.

I love people who succeed in life overcoming various odds.

At the end of the day, nobody drops a catch on purpose, and even the fielder gets frustrated. As a bowler, when a few catches are dropped, yeah, that is frustrating. But I think, ultimately, it's part of the game.

There are two teams against whom my energy is always very high: India and Australia.

You can't push and force people to do what they don't want to do. If things need to change, it has to be gradual.

No matter how small the dishonest deed is, at the end of the day, cheating is cheating.

Life was very tough, and there were times I thought I might not be able to play again.

Everybody knows that prison is not a good place for anyone, and nobody would feel proud to be there. But I'd like to mention that I was treated really well in there.

What I had said was that as a cricketer, you have to take care of your body and look after your fitness levels, and someone altered that statement and quoted me as saying that I wanted to quit playing Test cricket. It's totally untrue, and as long as I am fit, I want to play in all formats.

I want to thank all my team-mates as well as the opponents in red ball cricket. It has been a privilege to play with and against them.

I know people madly in love with cricket; they got hurt, and they now should trust me only because I want to give back their love for cricket by performing. I want them to trust me because they lost something because of me, and I want to give back with my whole heart and soul.

Thanks to Allah, I trust myself to distinguish between right and wrong.

When I first met Salman Butt, he was a senior player, and he was a star for Pakistan, and I was a junior, but he had a very good image amongst the juniors. It wasn't that he was only nice to me: he was close to all the juniors, cracking jokes and socialising with them and being pleasant to them.

At times, when everything is good, you enjoy your peak, but you are sometimes not able to differentiate between right and wrong - everything seems to be good even if you know it's bad. So this is what I have learnt.