Pakistan cricket is facing one of the darkest days in its history with the match-fixing revelations involving several members of the Pakistan cricket team. While the allegations have not yet been proven, the evidence on hand suggests all is not well in the Pakistan camp.
Dawn.com’s sports desk will keep an eye on the developments as the day goes on.
We also invite our readers to debate the imbroglio, its implications and what the future holds for Pakistan cricket.
Latest from the world press on the Lord’s fixing scandal:
Several Pakistani players knew Mazhar majeed
The three balls that might taint Pakistan cricket forever
Lack of killer instinct in Pakistan’s attack
Lord’s fixing scandal on internet forums, Facebook, Twitter:
@umairjav: stuart broad must be bummed at finding out he’s actually not that great a batsman
@KamranAbbasi: In the middle of the flood crisis and Ramadan, what a way to behave. An utter humiliation for Pakistan cricket on and off the field.
@cpyala: Question for Aalim Online: Does the money donated by Pak cricketers for flood relief become haraam?
@karachikhatmal: in 99 you broke my heart. but i was 16, and i learnt to love you again. i fear i am too old to love you again. why #pakcricket?
The views expressed by the reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
i think this is all fake !!!!pakistan has the best balling attack in the world,and they are the back bone of our cricket. So every one in Pakistan think that our players are corrupt and they don’t have any iman in them.but i think its all fabricated made up story that they fixed the match.” Pakistan zindabad “
I think the behaviour of the players says it all.Their silence is their guilt.What about the party offering the money,aren’t they guilty too? But in the west they call it “sting ” operation.Wait till the full investigation is over.Anyway couple of no balls don’t decide a test match so technically this is not “MATCHFIXING”.But the mindset of the players is worrisome.
I dont deny Pakistan’s systemic culture/political problems but come on my Indian freinds, you need to grow up a little bit.As big as the Indian economy is, there is twice as big “BLACK” economy.Politics(?Azhar is an MP now),IPL scandles and biggest of them all Bollywood,please don’t tell me there are heavenly angels at work!Its an INDO/Pak problem.There are always bad apples in the society.
I am sure the Brits are ‘upset’ that these people from the ex-colonies are beating them at their own game, i mean sports like golf,soccer, tennis , cricket etc.Any British champion lately folks?
I love cricket and players need to be paid reasonably but too much money has ruined the game, unfortunately.
Get these old foogies out of the Cricket Committee. They are so used to filling their pockets from players who get selected on Money Merits only and not game ethics. Bring on the new generation, likes of Miandad, Waseem Akram, Zaheer Abbas Intikhab Alam etc and offer the Chairmanship to Imran Khan. Allah inshallah will bring Pak back into Pakistan
If the players are found guilty,they not only should be banned from playing international cricket but also should be thrown out of the country so that it can be lesson for the coming generation of pakistani cricketers.They should follow the footprints of the great legend of the nation,the Imran khan.He is also from this soil and he has kept the history behind of which every one is proud of.
Can someone tell me why Mazhar Majeed has been freed on bail???
First, the investigations should be completed and the guilty must be brought out. The most severe and examplary punishment should be meted out to the guilty parties, including the PCB chairman, team Manager Yawar and others involved.
In the meantime, the show must go on in UK. For the T20 and one-dayers, Yawar Saeed, Shafqat Rana, Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif, Umar Amin and Imran Farhat should be immediately recalled – they should not be allowed to be in contact with the team at all. This is while the investigations are on. From Pakistan Younis Khan, Mohammad Sami, Sarfaraz Ahmed / Zulqarnain, and Yasir Hameed, even Misbah should be sent.
we should play the ODis with some integrity and shame.
I m all in shame! Well, we were getting doubtful with their performance on English soil so cat is out of bag now. I m following Pakistan cricket since last 4 decades and have seen them playing in South Africa, Australia, Zimbabwe and Sharjah but what these new players have done should not be spared. Let the allegations be proved first. But never forget that gambling is done on Australian grounds and legalised in U.K. I m now more than convinced that players from all test playing countries r involved in this. May it be Dean Jones, Mark Waugh or Shane Warne or Alec Stewart or other English players. This is a dirty business. How can ACB or ECB push their own cases under the carpet and point their fingers only to PCB or BCCI or Srilankan board? ICC must take action neutrally and scrutinse all closed cases
as Australians or English r no saints. How can u hide ur own filth and point fingers to others? I m of the firm view that betting started from English and Australian grounds. List of probabilities is circulated amongst all at each Aussie ground before the start of the day at each ground. Bookies can be seen with blackboards all around the grounds who r changing rates everynow and while. Mr. Ritchie Benaud should impress upon ACB to disallow this first and ECB should ban Ladbrook and other betting companies in UK. These two countries encourage people to bet on tennis, football and golf too. So in my opinion, they r the culprits for spreading betting and match fixing.
This was probably the saddest day of my life. After waking up in the morning to watch the last day of play I unfortunately saw the news and then watched the accompanying video of one Mr. Majeed making the dirtiest of dirty deals. As he swathed each note it felt like a part of me was dying, all those late nights I spent watching the game all those early mornings that I sacrificed for the love of the game, have all gone wane, it seemed. I felt like someone actually broke into my house beat me and robbed me from my integrity and all my belongings. Why Pakistan cricket WHY? Why can’t these players think of their country; their supporters; their loved ones before committing this heinous crime? With all the horrible stuff going on in Pakistan these days, cricket was the only thing left that we could actually cheer about and feel proud of (to a certain extent) but even that has been snatched away from us. With the present leadership in both the country and cricket board, can we ever recover from this set back?
I am sure that Kamran Akmal is the man who is the ring leader of all this. Having said this I am also amazed as to how scotland yard released the man who they apprehended as the main man behind all this despite the fact that the investigations are still underway. Secondly I also cannot understand how can a man sell him out for just 140,000 Pounds while he has already said that he made 1.7 million Pounds by spot fixing the Sydney test. How can he spill the beans and loose out on his future earnings through such a big source. Isn’t it mind bogling.
just a small note i forgot to add : please search for Shoaib Akhtar in wikipedia and u will see wht i mean abt how things will just dissappear: few quotes from it
” A year later, he was embroiled in a drug scandal after testing positive to a banned substance. However, the ban imposed on him was lifted on court appeal.”
“In September 2007, Akhtar was banned for an indefinite period for his fight with Pakistan team mate and fast bowler Mohammad Asif.[1] On 1 April 2008, Akhtar was banned for five years for publicly criticizing the Pakistan Cricket Board.[2] In October 2008, the Lahore High Court in Pakistan suspended the five year ban and Akhtar was selected in the 15-man squad for the Twenty20 Quadrangular Tournament in Canada”
do read the whole bit its fun that never stops!!!!!
It’s a reflection of society, our moral and ethical values. From our leaders to a common man on the street. Cricket players are no exception. Why is everyone so surprised.
Amir is only 18 and bowls like a dream. It’s so absolutely difficult to fathom what prompted the kid to botch his career so badly. The way he is bowling, he could delight world cricket for many many years to come. I guess the penalty should be extrmely harsh for repeat offenders like Asif, but Amir needs a chance — he might have got swayed such big some of money for what might have seemed like quite an innocuous thing (bowlign a couple of no-balls) to do. He is young and prone to such vices, but must learn and pledge never to indulge in nything like this again. As a cricket fan from India, I would love to see kids like Amir bamboozle batsmen all over the world for years.
the press conference of salman butt and yawer saeed showed us all.if u hav that video then focus on salman butt’s face it is telling all the facts and truth .i thin they were involved in this and that’s all
i think whole team should b changed .bring Pakistani A team .
The law says you are innocent until proven guilty. So here is what I believe PCB should do. Suspend immediately all the players who are named in match-fixing and spot-fixing allegations while investigations are going on. It is like sending them on administrative leave. Pakistan has enough talent, dispatch replacement players to continue the England tour. We must not play those players who have a dark cloud hanging over their heads. Once the investigation is completed and final verdict is announced then ban those players found guilty for life from all forms of cricket (no exception) and bring back the remaining players in to the team.
Right now integrity of the team (and the nation) is at stake. We must come out clean; winning and losing is irrelevant.
Heros and Zerros
Make an example of it, if the playersare proven guilty. Let it be the team who finished the game of cricket in Pakistan. If there is a cricket haal of fame, have the two pictures there, one with the world cup and 2nd one with the players in the current team with their heads down and names in capital letters, but we must wait for the results of the investigations.When there is smoke,there is fire too.
Strip them of their wealth. Launch a probe and confiscate all the alleged wealth of the guilty players. Distribute it among the flood victims! Long live Pakistan
Investigate from top to the bottom, including the team management and all the team members.
A minimum of a life ban from all forms of cricket both domestic an international, recovery of all money recieved (multiply by 2) and life long name on the exit control list.
Pakistan is corrupted from Policiticians to a local shop keeper.We all should be really blamed for encouraging corruption in all aspects of our life.There is no discipline in any event or department.There is no use in blaming just the cricket game and the cricketers.I am pretty sure that the entire cricket institution itself is corrupted right from the PCB head to the Sports minister.We really need to get rid of the black moles in the society and make a clean system.
Cricket holds little for Pakistan.
For me the most disheartening thing will be the lack of the two As.
They will be painfully missed-but they must be missed-if allegations are true.
I suggest we clean up the entire country. Start at top and go down.
Guys.
NOTW is the uk’s top selling Sunday paper, they do so many sting operations against famous and powerful people including th Royal family, film producers, politicians, football stars etc., no one bar the Murdoch family and their supporters are free of their gaze.
I have not heard of a successful sue against them or at least not the main perpetrators as in this case.
It’s sickening that people can act like this and seriously sickening that people out there are brainwashed into thinking its the enemies of Pakistan that are responsible for all your ills.
Sam
I think we have the tendency that the whole world is against us and conspiring against us. As a pakistani I know we are corrupt. Now a days if someone has did corruption the peoples always give respect to them and all the time even send them to the assemblies as thier leaders. Because without money you can not contest election.
There is bundles of evidences to prove them of guilty. If you recall Kamran Akmal drops lot of catches in Australia and at one intance he was laughing.
I dout if some one say on this blog they are innocent he may be Salmat But, Amir, Kamra Akmal or Muhammad Asif log on to this blog with a fake name.
pakistanis what happened u all! our team is innocent y u ppl reach the verdict before seeing the story, it just a fake drama to pressurize our team, i dont know y pakistanis r putting faith on british media even our local media too, plz open ur eyes, otherwise it will b another sialkot story where ppl beaten to death 2 innocent kids widout listening to them and here u ppl doing same widout listening to them, in videos v can see majeed not other players,dan how can v believe,fake drama. pak cric team is the best.
let investigation be complete and then u guys point fingers!
I personally believe that the allegation made against Pakistan Cricketer is correct. The Cricketers like some of our politicians do not have any soul ,affection for the country.They are always ready to get sold for their own material benefits at the cost of grace of the county. What shame the present incident has brought to the country. There is no choice but to ban all such olayers for life to avoid recurrence.
Pakistani authorities are comprehensively incapable of punishing the guilty at any level and therefore asking them to do anything is meaningless. I hope that ICC will impose lifetime ban on the guilty parties (players, promoters, handlers and managers) and furthermore British authorities should ban them from entering into Britain so that when we pay £100 for an entry ticket to watch a game we can be, reasonably, assured of a real sporting contest.