Monday, November 7, 2011

Spot Fixing - Pakistan Players get Jail Terms

Pakistan Players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir have all got jail terms along with their agent Mazhar Majeed. Salman got 2 years, Asif 1 year and Amir 6 months sentence while Majeed got 2 years and 8 months jail sentence.

The four men had been charged with conspiracy to accept corrupt payments, and conspiracy to cheat in regard to the Lord's Test against England in August 2010, when the three pre-determined no-balls were bowled - two by Amir and one by Asif, orchestrated by Butt and arranged by Majeed. While Amir and Majeed had pleaded guilty before the trial began, Butt and Asif denied the charges and were found guilty by a jury.

I think that this is a great judgement, as fixing in any sport is a curse. It is akin to selling your country, betraying your own people and even your own family. The shame which it brings on the family is much greater then what the players themselves face. I think any player who is involved in such activities should be banned for life. This judgement will surely deter others from taking a similar line and will help clean up Cricket.

What do you think?

4 comments:

Sujatha Sathya said...

true, highly unethical & so a good judgmeent
hope it acts as a deterrant

DS said...

The ICC, on their part should ban the players for life. That will complete the story, I guess.

Vishal Kataria said...

As said by quite a few pundits, the only person to be sympathized with here is Aamer. The poor bloke came up from a village where he saw death due to poverty and malnutrition. In fact, he narrowly escaped death himself. Then he was lured into money maing which would help his family and him. The rampant corruption in the country and in the dressing room must have made him feel there is no way out.

These 3 guys are mere scapegoats. I think almost everyone in the Pakistan team has been involved in match fixing. Let's see if this punishment brings down the numbers.

DS said...

@ Vishal
I too feel that Amir should be let off lightly but if we(I mean, ICC) dont get strict now, then our beloved game will suffer more.