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.
if these allegations are true, than i hope that not only do these players get banned for life but they also in prison and their bank accounts get frozen and are donated to the floods victims
Like you proposal.
thats the right way
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.
Agree with hira.our media is doing most of the damage.sorry to say media is never been positive.they are always showing the darker side of the pic.so they can black mail the authorities.media is another big Mafia in pakistan.
its true whenever our team visit Australia r England they are using negative tactics to spoil the team spirit.
they r not doing it only against Pak but also india, sri lanka.PCB SHOULD TREAT should treat them even handedly, and if our players are involved then they deserve a severe and maximum punishment. there shouldnt be any mercy for them.
Agree with hira.our media is doing most of the damage.sorry say media is never been positive.they are always showing the darker side of the pic.so they can black mail the authorities.media is another big Mafia in pakistan.
its true whenever our team visit Australia r England they are using negative tactics to spoil the team spirit.
they r not doing it only against Pak but also india, sri lanka.PCB SHOULD TREAT should treat them even handedly, and if our players are involved then they deserve a severe and maximum punishment. there shouldnt be any mercy for them.
Totally agree
“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”
LOL! Who is this “West”? You guys seem to have a penchant for conspiracy theories. You think that instead of other cricket teams studying the bowling techniques and devising counter strategies of these bowlers, they will conspire against them in such scandal. I can’t stop laughing.
Hira, yes i think you are right. Like yourself I still have not figured out why our own media is supporting such accusations. My guess is some cheap newspaper started a rumour to sell more copies and things just caught speed.
It is hard to believe that relatively new players at the beginning of their career can involve themselves in such a derogatory crime. If they involve then it is a biggest defame and Shame bring to PAKISTAN and it’s people. This is once again proves that following particular religion do not automatically gives you good character certificate. It is all depend on upbringing of the individual that builds up his / her character. I hope at lest M.Ameer comes out clean from this episode. He seems to be a nice guy, and future of cricket. Though I am Indian by birth I love subcontinental good cricket players. They are roll models for younger generation and should behave like roll model like SACHIN. Now people of Pakistan and other country should realize why INDIANS are worship SACHIN as a GOD of cricket. Pakistani Players should learn to appetite the fame from their counter parts form the players of other country.
Well said Sir.
I wish youngsters would have followed the likes of Sachin or Javed Miandad it it a SAD day for cricket and our country that they became pawns in the hands of corrupt players like Kamran Akmal. Shame on u AAmir u would have gone a long way in history books and made tons of money with the God given talents but u took a wrong short cut
I agree with you. But, when you said Indians worship Sachin as ‘God’, I have to disagree. He is one of the best cricketer, but unfortunately he has always, if not most of the times, failed to deliver in big matches. I would rank Ricky Pointing and Rahul Darvid much higher than him.
Ahmed
Very well said. Sachin is a very specialy person in addition to a special cricketer. I also like Kumble, Dravid, etc.
And to think Aamir does a sajdah each time he claims 5 wickets. This public display of one’s piety needs to stop as it just exposes the hypocrisy of such acts. If you are thankful, give a silent prayer or go back to the dressing room and sajdah to your heart’s content.
I couldn’t agree with you more. And now the taints are giving it a more concrete phony-ism!
well said.
totally agree
I think you have brought up a very good point of the Sajda, fully agree that this public display of one’ s piety needs to stop. One can always give a silent prayer, no need to display it to the public.
Hold on Guys, these are just allegations at the moment. Do you not remember whole pakistan team was labelled as murderers when BoB Woolmer died but nothing was proved. Pakistan team has suffered from the media trials by these Tabloids but worrying thing this time is that we have most inefficient management in the PCB. By the way who would pay this weak team to loose. So friends slow down and let the investigations complete before we label all players as Cheats.
are you serious Aniq? do you still think these are allegations? wake up mate! no balls were bowled precisely as promised, what more prove do ya need?
Have you not seen the videos??? All you can do is hope that somehow all the evidence is fake.
If proven guilty, these pakistani players should be banned for life from all forms of cricket. They brought disgrace and utter humiliation to Pakistan at a very difficult in our history. Whatever I have seen on video of the news of the world newspaper and the phone calls coming from pakistani players to the alleged and arrested bookie, it will be very hard and diificult for these players to get way with this time. I also blame the PCB and the team management for this malady as well, as they are very soft on some players of thier liking and creating grouping in the team. For the investigations to be fair, the alleged players should be suspended in the interim.
We should banned all current cricketers for life but first of all remove the BABA first (PCB chairman). These banned cricketers should be send to school in first grade. These all corrupt cricketers have lack of education.
10 to 11 eleven Punjabees in one team? I’m not surprise with the outcome! This is the only reason they don’t get players from other regions. Like Mohammed Yousuf said ” I prefer to have like minded people in the dressing room”
That would be my BIGGEST surprise in my entire life, if among all the institutions of Pakistan, the isntitution of Cricket is honest.
I am struck by the negativity here: it isn’t ostrich-like to say that one is innocent until proven guilty. So far we have allegations and hearsay, but nothing concrete barring the fact that a chap arrested for fraud has links with several Pakistan cricketers — there is nothing more for now.
Second — and I do not mean to condone any corruption if in fact it has occurred here — note that the allegations are for “spot-fixing”, and limited to bowling deliberate no-balls; the News of the World story does not include any claim by Mazhar Majeed that these players were deliberately dropping catches, or throwing the match. Both are equally wrong, but both do not have the same impact on the outcome of a match (to the extent a youngster like Aamer is indeed involved, one could also see how a kid might be seduced into thinking this sort of spot-fixing is no big deal; I would be less forgiving of Asif, who is more experienced but who has already had quite a history of scandal, including one involving a banned substance).
Its really tragic that this has happened. I hope it comes out false after its investigations, otherwise its a shame. Are Pakistani players poorly paid? As per my perception Pakistan players are one of the best, who have won the last T-20 world cup. Pakistan is going through rough times, with no team visiting their country after the attack on Sri Lankan team. Then the floods.
No one should be surprised by this incident when there is no character left from top to bottom in Pakistan. In India also, things are not hunky dorry but definitely they they have not reached this level yet and hopefully they never will.
Everybody knows what will happen. PCB will ban the players for a period ranging from 1 to 2 years, never a life ban and will override the ban if an important series comes up, say against India or a World Cup.
I am pretty sure Mohammad Aamer, who bowled a HUGE no-ball exactly at the time of play that the bookie had predicted, will be let off. Max of 6 months ban, I guess citing ‘insufficient evidence’. After 2 months that ban will be revoked.
Wanna bet?
Another blow to Pakistan’s image and disgrace for overseas Pakistanis. This embarrasment will continue for us,unless there is a change in system. All pillars of the state plus civil and military departments have corrupt players.Their corruption is in rife. They have no morals and feelings. These so called Muslims should be punished according to their sins.
Unless we set an example, we can not change the minds of the these corrupt crickters.Because they come from such a background,where words like morality or feeling are alien to them. Some of them have very poor background and some of them belongs to so called modern families. They got nothings to do with the ethics. For their temptations, money and glamoureous world is enough. They forget the respect which they are earning by playing whether in Lords or Sydney for their country.
Bottom line is Our think tanks need to focus on developing a system,which is based on honesty and greed free. Our big whigs need to set an example, Otherwise this tailgaiting will continue.
It is total shame ,what we have done to the high ideals set by our nation builders,disgusting . Who is responsible for this ? The politicians , the dictators ,the judiciary the intellectuals , the bureaucrats the media . The track record show all of them but certainly not the innocent people of this poor country.
who have been robbed of every thing and have been left high and dry. I think the poison have spread every where even in sports and needs a major surgery . The cricket in our country not only lacks merit but also fast drifting towards cheating and fraud therefore it needs major overhaul this establishment along with guilty players should go . The cricket game should be promoted at grass root level in schools
colleges and universities at least at old cricketing centers like Lahore , Karachi etc . Every province should have a board for developing grounds and organizing tournaments and selection of the state teams . The final selection for the team of the country shall be carried out by the central board
nominated from the members of all states.
why are we so upset about this? did they do anything different than any one of us had done that in their position? And who is going to judge them? President. the patron of pakistan cricket? come on people.
Again and Again the name of pakistan cricket comes in to betting scams,i being an indian fan is utterly disappointed by some of the talented young pakistani cricketers whose names are involved time and time again. That includes Akmals,Asifs and Shoaib’s. This bowling line up is one of the best in the world if the pitch favours fast bowling like in England..Most of us in India are big fan of fast bowling and the likes of Akram,Amir,Shoaib who can destroy any batting line up in world. But at the same time when we see Akmal dropping the simplest of catches in the world more than once it hurts being a cricket fan and these cricketers should never be allowed to be in the green colours again representing the nation.It shows that even the Board of control of cricket in pakistan is corrupt who doesn’t mind players throwing the matches on their will and hurting millions of cricket following fans all over the world who pays to see these matches and doesn’t even know if the matches are played in a honest spirit.. At the time when nation is suffering from worst of the floods these cricketers are involved in match fixing scams and making money for their own comforts shame on them.. We all in India will pray for the flood victims and hope that they get food and shelter and the homes being restored..
I am personally gutted and Devastated
We should campaign for ban on Pakistan International Cricket till we clean the Cricket at home
let them play local and National cricket and sweat it out…
To avoid further humiliation when we are banned by ICC and more so when other international team refuse to play matches against such low lying Paki cricket team we should pull our self out of it
reflect upon and be born again Clean Cricket loving and playing nation
I doubt it very much it will happen but i just hope it does
Gutted and heartbroken MJ
….reopen the case for Kamran Akmal in concert with this latest one which is not a surprise knowing who all the management is behind all of this! Do not know how in the world this shameful performance was swept under the carpet then?
Cheats DO prosper, at least they proved it right.
But seriously, i just HOPE that these are mere allegations ONLY, I HOPE. Heartbroken, i hope.
Nothing will change, this has been happening since ages. What a terrible humiliation….
Mohammad Ali jinnah said decades ago, Faith, Unity and Discipline. He said it rightly so long ago. We dont have any of it. Ban all the players who are involved in betting, we are not winning even if they are playing. Save the image of Pak which is already tarnished due to several other factors.
the biggest proof of pakistans board of involvement in these fixings is?the selections of mallik,kamran n umar for the tour?
I think its a big conspiracy to destroy pakistani cricket , ignorant players. TOTALLY AGREE WITH SAM>>>>
Folks, the whole team needs to be disbanded, including the PCB management. An in depth scrutiny of this issue needs to be carried out, and punishments meted out! Unfortunately, the whole system needs a revamp. These guys have sold their country for pathetic pennies. It makes you wonder how many matches they intentionally lost….which players are really involved in the practice. God help us put together a revolution. But, then again, innocent until proven guilty!!!!