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.
there use to be match fixing charges against players , coaches …etc but i never heard of anything like police involvement in such incidents. Only the home country impose ban on player for varying time.
Player can throw no balls or slow ball or any other ball and it may coincide the prediction of any other person but this has nothing to do with crime that police start investigating . I am not aware of any incident in which police get involve in match fixing case. I think what more is required to see the British law and to see if police has got any right to interfere in this kind of affairs or not.
I believe that player has the right to play as he wish and also he has right to listen to his captain, coach or friend or any other well wisher and to act on their advise with his free will and willingness. whats the big deal in it.
It is very sad to know that again allegation of match fixing are revolving around the Pakistani team, after loss the world cup 1999, i was always try to avoid the cricket matches specially of Pakistan, but after winning the test match against england i thought our Pakistani team now comes on the track, but unfortunate is that we always try to forward our country’s name on the top for some time, but it is bitter to say that after one victory we thinks that we are every thing and we fell down why? because of our egoism…
so here is the system is wrong, so we have to change the system, there is no accountability for rich persons but here is accountability with poor that how charge the cases against them, so we should change the system, favoritism… my personally appeal to govt that they review the post of Aijaz butt, because he is controversial all the time…. i am just a street cricketer but i have the passions to change my country’s name in to best countries by consuming effort of my dedicated field business…
GOD BLESS US;Pakistani’s!!!!
Shameless men these are. For all that Pakistan is going through… this is the stunt they pull off. Hurt and devastated by this news.
Again i see a reluctance amongst the common people accepting what is wrong is wrong . majority of the people here are again trying to shy away from the fact as we do again and again, but ultimately down within we all know that where there is a smoke there must be fire , so just closing our eyes dosent means that every thing is right , and that is what we keep doing as a nation every now and then. we dont accept our failures and always try to fabricate some or the other excuse or a blame to push the issue under carpet. We all must understand that acknowledgment of failure is the first step towards its rectification, unless that is not there i fear thing will be going on as it is and bigger blunders will be in making again and again.
I hope this is all false. I hope that its just a rumor. Lets wait for the results. God Forbid if its true then that will be devastating for all the fans who put out so many prayers and have such passion for this Sport + lets be honest we pretty much suck at every other sport. So we have cricket and I think we need to preseve this sport. IF we can’t save cricket, then I suggest Gilli Danda to be included in olympics so at least once evey 4 yrs we can give some happiness to our people.
They should all have their properties confiscated….they have committed a theft….there is no motive except blatant greed….
Confiscate their properties and give the money to the flood stricken people
Guys, I live in the UK, and the evidence they have is very very strong and reliable. I cant see Butt,Asif,Aimer or K Akmal get out of this one.
Interesting that majority of comments are saying wait and see, until the allegations are proved. But forgetting that information was given in advance as to which balls would be no-balls and that did take place. So there cannot be western propaganda to defame players.
I would have also been sceptical if there was no evidence.
So one more tragedy in the sequence of tragedies Pakistanis are facing nowadays. The thing which needs to be considered is that this allegation true or not, has bring a very bad name to the Pakistani nation and the country. ICC is not giving matches to Pakistani stadiums citing terrorist activities and now even the players are not dependeble. I am an expat Pakistani and this whole episode has make me feel ashamed of supporting such cheap persons (our cricket team), the questions by the other collegues at office (especially Indians) leave us with no answers.
All the people involved in this scam should be given life bans, criminal cases should be made against them and their passports should be confiscated so that they cant fly to other countries. They should be dishonoured in the same way they have dishonoured the country.
why team management and players have not denied the story till now. if report is fabricated they must sue the paper and give official statement at the earliest. if story is correct then their whole wealth must be confiscated after all they did it for money at the cost of their motherland dignity and pride.
This is symptom of a malaise that invoves the entire pakistani society including the politicians and religious leaders. This is no different from fixing the result of elections or preselecting people for an open position. As a people we need to dissociate ourselves from the religious bigots. We need to bring religion back to our homes from the mosques. We need to get rid of the middle man in every aspect of our lives. We need to learn to accept our mistakes and accept honest criticism.
In my opinion no one is guilty until proven otherwise. However, I’m deeply hurt the way these players have performed in the match. Their pathetic performance has created doubts in my mind and raised many more questions. This is going to hurt cricket very badly especially in Pakistan.
We shall not jump into conclusions, its true. But can some one tell us why Kamran Akmal once labelled as black sheep was given a chance to play. Track record of Asif is in front of us. How about the good guys teaching cricket ” Mr Ijaz and Waqar”. No Pakistani would like to defame the country. But even if we dont get into jumping conclusions, I think the analyses are already done. good luck.
Did you see the size of Aamirs no ball at the end of 10th over as said by bookie…it was atleast 2 foots.. He REALLY made sure it was a no ball…
Well.. The 4 main players i.e. Salman butt,kamran akmal,mohammad amir and asif are no wonder greats players if they play honestly. This news is quite a shock and an utter disgrace to the pride of our country. But its too early to jump to conclusions. I think we shall be patient until everything is proved. Personally, I love these players so I would NEVER want them to be banned, but if they are seriously into match fixing, then such traitors should no doubt be punished. But as I said earlier,we should wait until everythings proved because this might be a plan against the players. Who knows that the video of mazhar majeed has been recorded before or after the match anyway. Plus we should’nt forget how we finally won against aus,and also one match against england. This might be true from having a look at the no balls.. I just hope,badly,that its not.
Evidence are not credible video footage does not implicate nay Pakistani player, the Majjid the kingpin story is not a credible course of information Once and corrupt always a corrupt. It seems that the betting mafia is after the young captain and young players those are not cooperating,winning and losing is a part of any game. Planting the money in the players hotel room is as easy as getting rid of Hansie corjne and Bob Woolmer in his hotel room. In the first world country” Every on is innocent until proven guilty” and in third world “Everyone is guilty until proven innocent”. we need to be not emotional but rather logical about it we do not know even the video footage of Majjid counting money and making calls is being made before the match or afterward in the Bollywood digital video studio. Lets take the Lwas take its course and the Truth will Insha Allah prevail.
Ok, we have agreed if our players have been proven guilty, they should be punished. The setting of this law will set an example for other departments of Pakistan to follow… However, if innocent, it raises a huge huge question. Why create so much hype and play with the emotions of the country before proven guilty? The investigation could be done quietly at the end of the 4th Test Match and the event exposed when proven guilty. If our players are innocent, then Scotland Yard must pay the emotional damages they have caused at least $1 for hurting every Pakistani’s emotions.
why cant we just accept the fact that unless and until we take drastic steps and impose severe penalties the problem of match fixing will continue to haunt pakistan cricket…..we have been in the rebuilding phase for so many years and there is no dearth of talent…..why not just axe the culprits, hand out the relevant punishments and move on. there is no point in looking for evidence….its substantial……..i just hope and pray that this does not turn out to be another Qayyum Commission
The news of the world did a fairly good job I think in exposing the situation. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with three cell phones of Butt, Asif, and Amir.
It’s just unfortunate that you have people like Mazhar Majeed in this world. It’s also a major irony to see the Pakistani team refer to God within each interview, and then basically get caught for doing things that are massively immoral. I’m no judge of character or human behavior, we’ll see what the investigation reveals, but boy this looks really bad for Pakistan and its credibility.
Oh and another thing, keep Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal off the team (they are the root cause of all corruption on the team, in my opinion), they have been caught up in controversy way too much. Give Afridi the reigns to all three versions, even though he doesn’t want the test format, but at least he’s someone that will straigten the team out, and the PCB needs to seriously stop wielding to external/political pressures to add certain players to the team.
I have gone to Website of NOTW; there you could find lot more information compare to what has been published in local Pakistani media. Posted pictures and videos are clearly suggesting the link and friendship of players with crook. I obviously like to wait until the investigation is complete before passing my judgment but like to know what our management was doing to deny an opportunity of our players to interact with crooks. These crooks must have approached other players too why that was not reported to management, any personal fear or threat??. Pakistan cricket board is equally responsible for not coaching and train our young players not to get trapped into these issues while on tour. Look at the picture of Umer Amin and Wahab Riaz how amazed they were looking at the cash stuffed into one of the crooks crook’s sports jacket pocket pocket; later that same jacket was worn by Wahab Riaz. How come this type of public interaction kept hidden with management and other players? We send tons of official with touring parties, there job is to keep an eye on these matters. Our board had an opportunity in past to act positively to eradicate this issue but they didn’t. Unfortunately but may be blessing in disguise the issue happened on foreign soil and if it will be proved that these players are really involved they will be jailed and in my opinion that would be the right place for these players; no matter how good they are. If they don’t care about the pride of the country and the value of representing the country then they don’t deserve to represent the country so i would not care if they live in their home or in jail. Rashid Latif several years back sacrifice his career for the sake of country but nothing happened but I thing this time things will not be the same.
Impeach is neccessary.
Arrest them, ban cricket for all their life.
A dark day for Pakistani cricket! this should be investigated to the core and THIS time no leniency!
I WAS a fan of the Pakistan team during 90’s. They used to and still have talents. But one thing was always missing and seems like it will not be in place in my lifetime…..that is Discipline. Pakistan cricket board and team are the most undisciplined group of people for ages. Recent performances, the lifetime ban of Md yousuf & his recall are only a few examples!
To represent one’s country is a rare honour, to sell one’s soul to the devil is tantamount to ‘high treason’. All the conspiracy theorists need to pull their heads out of the sand.
it is a shameful situation for all the Pakistanis,i cant understand what are they guys doing ,they are suppose to be asset of the country and by doing these shameful acts they are degrade us.
i think cricket board team should take serious action this time against these players and take it as a very very serious issue.