Is ICC being unfair to the Pakistani Players? It seems so
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rashid-Latif-c84084, the former Pakistani skipper who was the first to raise voice against the menace of match-fixing, feels that Pakistani suspended trio is not being treated fairly by the ICC.
Amid the charges of alleged spot-fixing, three Pakistani players had been suspended by the international cricket council back in September this year. All three of them are now waiting for the hearing which, according to the news, is going to take place next
month in Doha.
Sharing his views with the correspondent of an international sports channel, Latif lamented the fact that ICC had dragged its feet on coming up with a final decision over the case. “The ICC has delayed things and prolonged the issue causing lot of mental
torture to these players and the Pakistani people. Perhaps they don’t realize the sort of tension and pressure the players go through when confronted with such a situation” Said the former skipper.
Apart from raising his concerns on the way ICC was taking up the issue, Latif also expressed his disappointment over the role of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 Cricket Board which had made no attempt to exert pressure on the world cricket body to quicken the process of reaching
to a final decision. Clearly violating the rules of ICC, which bound the body to give its verdict within three months of the suspension of the players, it’s been four months now since the present authorities have been keeping the players from having a clear
picture about their future.
The trio has been facing suspension, even though the anti-corruption unit of the ICC has not been able to prove any charges so far. This perhaps is not fair, had the justice been exercised, things should never have taken that long.
Raising similar concerns, Latif said, “I know these are legal procedures and issues involved in this spot-fixing case but still four months is a long time and it is the careers of the players at stake as they remain suspended without any evidence against
them so far.”
Latif was of the view that not only the suspended players, even their families had been through tremendous pressure as the issue was constantly lingering on. According to him, if the ICC had proof for the alleged spot-fixing charges, why was it taking too
long to announce its final verdict, why was it not simply punishing them? He raised his concerns while saying that this unfair and unnecessary delay was only because the hearing panel was still unable to gather any solid proofs to support the allegations.
Tags: