Pakistan Cricket: Shahid Afridi reveals under investigation bookie Mazhar Majeed tried to befriend him – Cricket News Update
Pakistan’s former limited overs Captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mazhar-c75448 Majeed tried to befriend him many times, but the 31-year-old all-rounder never encouraged Majeed and always refrained from getting too close to him.
Speaking on the matter, Afridi said, “He made several attempts to get friendly and close to me. But every time he tried to do this I ticked him off with some straight talk."
The flamboyant all-rounder insisted that he had warned the team management about Majeed as he never got a positive vibe from the bookie who was working as an agent for many players in the Pakistan squad.
Among these players, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohammad-Amir-c76675 were regularly seen with Majeed, who were later entangled in the spot-fixing case during Pakistan’s tour of England in the summer of 2010.
According to a sting operation by now a defunct British Tabloid “News of the World” the three players took bribes from Majeed to deliberately bowl no-balls in the Lords Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013.
The tabloid provided video footage as evidence to law enforcement agencies after which the hotel of the Pakistan team was raided and cash along with cell phones were taken into custody by Police from the rooms of the three players.
An official investigation by the International Cricket Council (http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625) found the players guilty of all charges and banned them for a minimum of five years from all forms of cricket.
Now, Butt, Asif and Majeed are facing charges of fraud in a London Court, where Majeed has already pleaded guilty.
Meanwhile, Afridi opined that the spot-fixing fiasco had damaged Pakistan cricket to a great extent and shedding off this stigma would not be easy.
Afridi made news earlier this year after developing differences with team management which led to his conditional retirement from international cricket in May, 2011.
However, with the ouster of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128, the flamboyant all-rounder retracted his retirement by making himself available for national duty.
The board would now have to clear him before he gets selected by the PCB selection committee to play for Pakistan once again.
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