Match Fixing Allegations Come Back to Haunt Pakistan Cricket Once Again
A news story broke out recently about undercover reporters paying off a middleman who then went and told two Pakistani bowlers to bowl no-balls in exchange for a large sum of money. Pakistani cricket has always been bogged down by match-fixing allegations; it has been around since the very beginning and does not look like it is going to leave anytime soon. This corruption of the game, a disgusting form of cheating, should have been stamped out at the first instance, but now it has become a part of the country’s cricket team and is here to stay. To really destroy it, heads will have to roll in a big way.
Some of the biggest incidents of match-fixing in Pakistani cricket occurred in the 90s during the reign of the two greatest fast bowlers of the era: Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. It was widely alleged that Wasim Akram threw many matches and fixed their result according to what the bookies of the time wanted. The dodgiest aspect of this was that Akram’s brother was a bookie at the time and took bets from all over the world. That was a serious conflict of interest but it seemed to pass by everyone’s notice and the practice continued for many years. Many say that the real match-fixing cancer that spread started with matches being held in Sharjah. With the huge amounts of money flying around and dodgy characters on the prowl, police were not effectively able to stop the spread. This, incidentally, was also one of Pakistan’s favourite venues to play at. Now, that could be because they got a lot of fan support in the city, but it could also be that there was a lot of money to be made.
People used to think that match-fixing was only a myth and it happened very rarely. It was suddenly thrust into the limelight with the Hansie Cronje scandal. When such a prolific player for the South African team admitted his guilt in trying to fix matches, the entire sport of cricket died a little bit and has never seemed to recover. In that whole sordid affair, a few names featured heavily, for example Mohammad Azharuddin, who introduced Cronje to a bookie who worked with the South African and others for many years. Azharuddin was banned for life by the Indian Cricket Board. Also in the mix of all this drama were many Pakistani players; Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mushtaq Ahmed and many more. Out of these, one can only remember Saleem Malik getting banned but that decision was overturned in 2008. The others just got fines and light match bans. This seemed to be a turning point in match-fixing in Pakistan: if all those Pakistani players who had been found to be involved in the scandal would have been banned for life, the practice would have stopped for the most part. However, nothing happened and that is why match-fixing is so prevalent in Pakistan today.
The latest scandal to hit the Pakistan team and cricket in general took place during the third Test in the series being played in England at the moment. Two undercover reporters from ‘The News of the World’ met a bookie who was very close to the team and after being paid £150,000, promised that the two fast bowlers of the team, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif would both bowl no-balls at particular times. During the match, the bowlers bowled the said no-balls at the exact time the bookie said they would. He even confirmed that the bowlers would do it by speaking to both of them on the phone the day before. According to reports, the bookie even claimed that the Pakistani captain Salman Butt was in on the scam as well. This incident just shows how far cricket has fallen from grace all over the world and how it is not a competitive sport anymore but has become a money-making machine.
There seems to be no hope for Pakistan cricket anymore; with the nation drowning in floods, its heroes are more interested in making money and lining their pockets by cheating. Cricket the world over has become a joke and this is one reason why fans have been leaving the game by the boatload. Something drastic needs to be done, like banning all those players involved for life. That might bring the Pakistani team a slight glimmer of respect again.
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