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.
The Pakistan team has been at the center of betting scandals for long. The tragedy is that genuinely talented, brilliant cricketers have been sucked up into the glitz and glamour of easy money.
The problem starts right from the top. The PCB is just a front for corruption and mismanagement.
In the final analysis some old fashioned virtues like honesty, integrity, discipline and respect for oneself and for the country are needed and have to be instilled in the coming generations, for Pakistan’s sake.
Date and time on NOTW ,video is very critical…………..
I agree innocent until proven guilty.. but the 2 bowlers are guilty and the captian is involved
as for kamran akmal my 11 year old can wicket keep better than him he is an embarrassment.
also ban the PCB from international cricket, the ICC is investigating 82 matches !!!!
we have corruption in every aspect of our lives.. who can blame them
Our cricketers are desperate. Its like our high ranking appointees. “Lets make money while we are in the position of authority”. What a shame. Our cricketers are the pawns of the board. The element of uncertainily lingers in their mind. There is no guaranty that a good performance will pave their way to success or the influential Ilyases will ruin their chances by opting for Ferhats. The system is corrupt. What a perfect time to revamp the board. If it is not a wakeup call for Zardari, how can we expect the Butts to butt out.
To early to say anything. We should be mindful of Gossip Newspaper ‘News of the World’. How many people heard about this news paper. It could just be a scandal or fake story. We need to support our cricketers. What could be said on Sanjiv Randiv NO Ball to Sehwag?? no anti-corruption investigations on this.
Randiv intentionally bowled a no ball with getting paid. There is difference. The earlier we accept the reality the better. Reality is that we Pakistani cannot be trusted. We live in the gutter of corruption and that’s it, no one can be blamed for it except us. No one can change this except us, but its going to take a long time. We are not even close to the starting line yet.
This is not the first time the British media has put allegation and published stories however we should not rule out the involvement either with out proper investigation.
Guilty or Not Guilty this is about the PAKISTAN, WE MUST FOLLOW THE CODE OF CONDUCT.I feel so sorry for AAMIR, but Asif, akmal, Shoaib Malik, Butt has been under the eye of the LAW in PAST. When you are playing for National team or local team “the first lesson” it is your responsibility to read and understand the policy and procedure book” I hope Mr. Yawar saeed knows the law.
Spot-fixing amounts to dishonesty to the nation and falls under the law of treason,
Treason in Pakistan carries the death penalty.
oh man, the player affected themselves have not taken this defence…even Salman Butt deny it categorically…your naivete is touching !
Zeeshan,
Pakistan has some of the most talented youngsters in the game. Did you see Umar Akmal in the final innings? He alone could have taken the match way fro England. Pakistani bowlers were also way ahead in pace bowling skills. No way they could have lost this badly. I am sure they threw the matches against England.
A-O-A
This thing cannot be stopped because these cricketers have sold their souls for material gains, And this thing is not only limited to cricketers only but ninty percent pakistanis including myself are anxiously trying to find out short cuts. May Allah guide this whole nation. Ammen
Pakistan team has ashamed the nation in a spectacular fashion in more ways than one. They lost the match in a tremendous fashion, not because of lack of talent but due to their greed. This begs the question, is it not enough to be the highest paid people in pakistan and the honor or representing The nation? One should ask these players and their coaches, how much is enough? They could have tried to win for their wounded and suffering nation, but, national pride is not something found in many of these players. In my opinion everyone found guilty of involvement in this conspiracy should be banned from international and domestic cricket for life.
So what you are saying Rufi is that (ban them for life), by Feb next year, they should be available for national duty?
I wish , ICC ban Pakistan Cricket for some years ( not less then 50 years) and i am sure its going to save lot of time of Pakistan Nation. It will improve education in general masses.
Players should several be punished for ” BETRAYAL”.
I belive they are not currupt…. or involve in any way
its just british conspiracy to hide their mistakes.. especially the player who hit pakistani player
and attack him …
NO 1 talk about that … every 1 is disscussing against PAKISTAn….
Its show hate of english man toward us…
We Pakistanis have our head in the the sand and cannot comprehend how far we have sunk. Everything is a conspiracy; an easy way of not accepting responsibility. Unfortunately the players and politicians represent the whole society and when we point a finger at them, realize that other four fingers are pointing towards us. We all are to blame for this mess, we better wake up or soon there won’t be a Pakistan. Read history, every nation’s demise was preceded by total breakdown of law and order and total selfishness. I never thought the day would come but now I feel ashamed to be a Pakistani.
Dr Owais, I think instead of prescribing medication to others you need to prescribe medication for your self as you are refusing to face the reality that majority of our politicians, sportsman etc…. have no sense of nationalism or patriotism. They are only motivated by greed!
I like your approach, Dr, Owais. Keep your head buried in the sand and blame others for all our ills. It will certainly fix all our problems.
Very good. This kind of mentality is the reason why Pakistanis are where they are.
Totally agree ! With doctors like this Pakistan is facing an endemic. Yes please Ban this whole team and spare all the fans of the anguish.
Now we all know why this team is known for its unpredictable ‘qualities’
I agree with you Hasan!
How long we Pakistani blame west for our mistakes
+1
I agree with Hasan. We (Pakistani) always blame America, or India for everything. We never realized our mistake. People are corrupt at every level. Please STOP blaming others. Also, ICC should ban Pakistani cricket forever.
I guess we should wait for the official words and then jump to conclusion. The newspaper “News of the world” is more of a gossip newspaper and I am pretty much sure that this is all a scandel. Imagine who would pay that much cash for fixing a no-ball. They are a tallented bunch of people who can be the future of Pakistan cricket and can be sure replacement of Waqar and Wasim. Give these guys a chance as so far nothing has come out yet
Hay there
I think this is the time to take the decision
that what should be done next.
Players are the pride of a nation
They are treated as the hero’s for the nation, but in our case this is the 180 Degree different
I believe that these things should be taken serious now
and by giving the hardcore punishment to the culprits set the examples for the all the players of PAKISTAN
this is not a club cricket they all are playing,this is the most elite kind of Cricket forum on which they are playing THE TEST CRICKET, and they are doing such kind of things in such kind of forums,
they should not be given a easy way out but they should be given the hard means
Firstly I do not think that the team can do this.
Secondly no one in the world was happy that a 17 years old bowler can becomes that popular. This might be a trap as World Cup is approching and Pakistani team now a dangerous team and a call of death for the opening pair of all the teams around this world.
Let’s see and get the clear picture as i beleive that someone not happy to see Pakistan team growing.
Thanks
Amer! you were short to saying “someone is not happy to see Pakistan is growing”, well look around, watch news and read papers, and you will get a very clear picture “HOW PAKISTAN IS DOING”
I believe this is all scam and west has already sense the devastation that Amir, Asif and Gul can bring in the future if our batsman at all supports them. We must back our players, after so many years we have seen our team winning and that west cannot see this.
The biggest disappointment is our local media which is propagating against our players the most, what good this media is bringing to our country?. Our players are inocent till they are proven guilty and we should support them.
Here is a solution #1. Fire Ejaz Butt #2. Fire Wasom Bari and Mohsin Khan #3 Cricket should be run by PCB and should have it’s own boss and President of Pakistan should not be it’s Boss or whatever you call it. Give the team 3 months for consistent performance.
If THEY don’t shape up then BAN Cricket forever from Pakistan like Germany did some times ago. Cricket bring nothing but shame to Pakistan. Way too many broken hearts way too many times. Support and nurture other sports. Tennis, hokey, Soccer, field and track, and other sports where coaches are plenty and cheap. Get help from China and say bye to cricket. This is it.
Well said, hope some one take your advice.
To all people who think these allegations are devised to put down Pakistan ….. GROW UP !!! …… I am a Pakistani and I have watched every single ball and followed almost all games in the last 2- 3 years. What the English newspaper has shown is “Proof” .. go and read the Articles at “www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news” and after that I dont think you will question any of the allegations. It even shows Mazhar Majeed meeting up with Umar Amin and Wahab Riaz and handing over a jacket full of cash to them. Mazhar Majeed is a criminal and he did have contacts with the Pak players …. and Pak players are not a bunch of two year olds not to know what this guy has been upto or who he is.
Open your eyes. If you let these traitors getaway with this now than you will get what you deserve …. nothing !
I agree with ALI.
It has been a matter of SHAME for all Pakistanis in Pakistan and all over the world.
Cricket lovers are paying £90 for a day means Rs.12000 per day to watch England-Pakistan cricket match. They share their feelings honestly with both teams.
Now one of those team has betrayed all of them and brought the shame to the people of Pakistan.
I think there is much hue and cry made out of this…..three no balls cannot decide anything in a test match….does it change the result? Why paint all town with the same brush? Wait till anything is proved, and if necessary, take stringent action for an exemplary punishment. But right now, do not kill cricket in Pakistan…..I am from India….but like the Pak. cricket team for their skills a lot. I am sure, THIS TOO SHALL PASS.
Such a sorry affair
We must hold our horses and should not jump to the conclusion until the allegations are formally proven right. And on proven right, the authorities must sack the involved players in way that should remember as an example in the cricket history.
Yar am supporting ur comment…we should stand by our team until they are proved guilty…
I advice Pakistan government to sue NWOT
There are abundance evidence of these match fixings from the players over the years.Many of them are now retired and some of them are holding the posts within PCB. The disease of corruption is eating away our nation. From politicians to now our national Players.Do not get in to the denial. If we are to move forward and progress , we have to remove this cancer from our society which is spreading fast.
No news is good news for Pakistan. I hope at least these allegations are proved wrong.
If these players are guilty they know it. Please do not come back to Pakistan. We do not want you amongst us. You have shamed our country, you have shamed our souls and please stay somewhere else because we do not want you back in Pakistan. I am sure if you are guilty authorities would ban you for life, you can choose another profession to make a living. Do not return, because we do not want you to be in Pakistan.
Very good, but what makes you think they would be wanted anywhere?
Its a shame,your cricketers have no pride in their country
Hey Shiv,
I imagine you are from India. I would like to support your comments except I don’t have our cricketers to boast much about either! Guaranteed – Tendulkar and a few others to be honest, but the match fixing seems to have been going on for a long time. Let’s pray someday sting operations like these don’t bring out tales of corruption of our ‘honorable’ cricketers.
The truth is we have made Gods out of our cricketers with no accountability systems in place. We are partly to blame as greed, deception, corruption attack us uninvited. All humans. West or East. We just need to place checks in place so that no one person becomes too powerful to govern.
Anil
This is utter shame for all the loyal Pakistanis. Sports and sports persons are pride of any nations, on top of that sports persons are ambassador of any nation. Please, clean the mess and put back Pakistani cricket on track. We are not short of talent, but we lack confidence.
I’ll not stop watching cricket, because i love this game ever since i was a kid. But most awful thing is that, every time there an allegation against Pakistani team or player, it never got proven, and on the other hand, if some allegations come to any other player in the world, it always have been proven. So, please punish the culprits and find new guys and restart things from scrap.
One thing seems to me sure, there was something in this scam, because i watched that 50 seconds video.
I am gutted and ashamed of this act by anyone in Pakistani team.
I have a request to top Pakistani brass, i mean President of Pakistan who is chief patron of PCB, please clean the mess. I hope you can understand, young generation is looking for new heroes and it is time to sack the culprits in management and in players.
Please give us clean and good management and cricket player, for the love of cricket.
I think its all a drama, a big conspiracy to malign pakistan cricket team and its rising stars..thigs seem to obvious to be true.
Guess I’d wait till these guys are proven guilty. If that turns out to be true, I think, they dont just need to be banned for life from the sport, but should be sued for damages by the government on the behalf of People of Pakistan for bringing in the shame, who’ve been looking for a way to be happy amidst all the fights, attacks, poverty, corruption and what not. If its proven otherwise, This tabloid needs to be taken care of through law with the severest of punishments as well, to make sure, people think about the consequences before making statements. I would just pray to God to save us the humiliation of going through this defame. We’ve already suffered a lot and I cannot even begin to reckon why all the interfaces Pakistan has, with the outside world, are so messed up in their characters.
ahhh its nothing but just fake propoganda. like in the late 80’s early 90’s when wasim n waqar were at the peak of their careers it were the brits who accused them of ball tampering as they couldnt handle the reverse swing. then in Inzi’s captaincy we had some issue in england in a test when inzi baked out they again accused the Greens. so nothing gonna happen this time as well its just mind games to stress out your bowlers which are performing extreamly good and put a black spot over them thats all
Hey Umer, You are saying as if Pakistan is winning very frequently and other team are struggling to face up to Pakistan Pacers – yes they are very good but face it – did you see the no balls – they were huge . This was just a proof given by Majeed that he can make the Pakistani team do anything on the field. Why are we always in the denial mode and always resorting to some conspiracy theories when non exists.
Lets grow up and support clean players even if they lose a few matches , as it is with these players we are losing heavily.