'Corruption damaged Pak cricket as much as Lahore attack on Sri Lankan team' says Former Pak batsman Zaheer Abbas

NewsBharati    21-Apr-2020 15:55:46 PM
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Karachi, April 21: Former Pakistan's top batsman Zaheer Abbas said on Tuesday the Pakistan Cricket Board has been "soft" in dealing with corruption within the national team which is as damaging as the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team.
 
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The 72-year-old said, "It is the right thing to do for the Pakistan board because for too long, we have been soft while dealing with corruption cases and these have led to a string of scandals which badly damaged our image and also hurt our cricket's progress".
 
Further adding he said, "If the militant attack on the Sri Lankan team bus dealt a big blow to Pakistan cricket as we were forced to play away from home, these corruption scandals have not been less damaging to our cricket over the years".
 
The former skipper said if a governing body would have been set up much earlier to get rid off the fixing it would have prevented recent cases of spot-fixing. Setting a bad example for the other cricketers through spot-fixing, he said, "In the end, it is Pakistan cricket which suffered as we lost good players and more importantly we sent out the wrong message to cricketers and even those who try to lure, entice and corrupt players".
 
Abbas appealed to the board to not spare any player who has been found guilty or had any involvement in corrupting the game. "I say spare no one because this is the worst thing a cricketer can do to his country, team, and sports".
 
Previously, PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani, in a recent podcast, said, "I have talked to the government to bring in this change. The problem is that the PCB does not have legal authority when it comes to the matter of match-fixing. We cannot follow money trails, if there is a law related to match-fixing, then agencies can come in and do the needful,"
 
Abbas even said that he could not understand why players get into the trap of spot-fixing when they are handed such big amount of money. "The earnings of the players from playing domestic cricket, for their national teams, in T20 leagues, endorsements, sponsorships is so much that at times, it is hard to comprehend what is wrong with the players who get caught in this web of corruption. These bookmakers should not be spared as well," he said.
 
It is reported that even Pakistan's former Test pacer, Aaqib Javed also said in a separate interview that players found guilty of corruption should not be allowed back into the sport. "I think in the past many time's authorities took wrong decisions thinking so and so players are indispensable for us or he will win matches. If swift action had been taken in the past things would have been different," he said.