Spot-fixing Allegations: Ian Botham-Mohsin Khan Showdown
After the spot-fixing allegations first emerged during the recent England series, Pakistan has been in the hot-seat for an entire month now. Initially, when the allegations were fresh, many former cricketers, current commentators and cricket pundits had
shown their anger and frustration. Even though the charges were not proven, still there were suggestions by various renowned cricket personalities to not only ban the three accused players – Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif – but also to axe the
Pakistan cricket team from the world of cricket.
One such personality, who has been quite vocal, is Sir Ian Botham. He was reported as saying, "The public pay the money to come and watch the game. What do they do if a catch goes down or someone bowls a no-ball? What are they thinking? Enough is enough."
This statement is fair enough to the extent that the game’s integrity should never be put in jeopardy under any circumstance. However, having said that, how can one presume that those catches were put down or the no-ball deliveries were deliberately bowled?
Nothing has been proven so far, aren’t these statements a bit too premature?
Ian Botham also said, "The ICC need to wake up, they need to get off their backsides. From what I can see, they haven't done very much at all." To this, one would say, hasn’t the ICC done enough already? They have imposed a provisional ban on the alleged
players without any proof. This has hurt the Pakistan team immensely and cost them many matches. At one point in the series, only 11 players were available to play in a match. Secondly, both their top bowlers were replaced by back-up ones. The players’ suspension
seems to have had a long-lasting repercussion as even after the England tour, Pakistan team selection is in a fix. They have to prepare the squad for the upcoming matches against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 in UAE and the selection of players is dependent on the availability
of these accused players.
Nonetheless, Botham believes that the Pakistan cricket team should be kicked out of the game altogether. He feels that the matter has been kept under the carpet for too long and should be talked about in the open while the accused players and managers of
the team should come clean. Some cricket pundits maintain that these rather extreme statements of Botham are a simple reaction to the “outrageous” allegations made by PCB Chairman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128, against the England cricket team. Others, mainly former Pakistani
players have been deeply offended by Ian’s remarks; the most vociferous being Mohsin Khan – the former test opener and the chief selector of Pakistan.
“He (Botham) has always had a problem with Pakistan. But now, when he is not just a former player but also a commentator and expert on Sky Sports, one expects him to be unbiased in his comments on any issue,” the chief selector maintained. According to Mohsin,
most of the former players, who were commentating during the tour, have had a balanced and an impartial point of view on the spot-fixing scandal. Some of these commentators, who are also from England, include http://www.senore.com/Cricket/David-Lloyd-c53058, David Gower and Mike
Atherton. Although, they too have criticized Pakistan cricket but they did not go overboard.
“But Botham has shown himself to be a biased, foolish and an ignorant person by making such derogatory remarks against a top cricket nation. Sky should consider removing him from their panel,” Mohsin http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-c71319 added. He was referring to the fact that Botham was
part of the Sky Sports commentary team for the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohsin-c77587 wasn’t surprised on his comments as he expected no less from him. It is yet to be seen if there
would be an Ian Botham-Mohsin Khan showdown.
Tags: