Ask any foreign observer about what comes to their mind when you mention Pakistan; a country ravaged by bloods, tainted corrupt democracy from top to bottom, eternal beggar,sufferer and proud exporter of global terrorism would be one of the less abusive comments out there. Among such strong negative publicity only an evil stroke of genius could take the cake- steps in the adopted national game. Just like Brutus, Salman butt’s man probably didn’t even think twice before mauling an ailing nation which is already biting the dust and then some. I was somewhat saddened to see that Pakistani president took notice of the scandal within 24hours while the same guy was in the wilderness about the latest floods for almost a week before actually asking for complete picture. Won’t be surprised if the patron was getting a cut from these ill gotten gains but that is a debate which I will not like to open right now.
Since winning the T20 world cup, Pakistani cricket team has been on a constant downward spiral while discovering new depths of the term useless along their inauspicious journey. Off late I had vowed not to follow cricket again because our team lacked dedication and it was a waste of time but defying logic I still caught the occasional glance on cricinfo which off late had become a full fledge obsession. This great sport of ours was already on ventilator with all the controversies surrounding it and in between electric shocks were also administered to prevent a cardiac arrest but yesterday’s events must have pushed it a bit closer to coma. Oxford dictionary was mulling citing our cricket team as an example under spineless but I guess now the term cheats would also be thrown in the mix.
Spot fixing is not exactly same as match fixing but can we differentiate between little treason and grand treason in terms of emotional loss. You might say I am being a bit emotional here but these sport’s men had gone to UK in the capacity of Pakistani ambassadors and if proven true- this incident is no different from handing off your national secrets to another nation (no matter how trivial they are). If this band of common thieves can indulge in spot fixing for a man who they have known for less than two months than what stops one for thinking that these traitors were not involved in throwing of matches?
Debt ridden, dope sniffing, steroid dowsing and now also a betting specialist Asif might innocently claim he was doing this all for the flood victims. Mr. mazhar majid probably told him that he was representing ICC and this was their way of helping those struck by national calamity- this is not an over exaggeration since the lanky fast bowler has made such excuses in past and actually gotten away with it! His infamous sayings include “my dog ate my opiate prescription” to “I never knew this magical drug affecting my performance was a steroid- wasn’t it magical pixie juice?”. There is a reason why drug addicts are told to stay away from the environment which triggered their habit but please don’t take anything away from Asif- he chose to bathe in this filth voluntarily along with 6 of his comrades and many more probably (can my scepticism be blamed at this point of time). Even his old girl friend has called him a chronic cheat but revenge is dirty politics so let’s just keep her out of this. I would truly doubt the mental competence of PCB if they still continue to keep this wild projectile in the team who is showing all evidence of being a kamikaze.
What can one say about Amir except he holds legendary Wasim bhai as his idol and has been nurtured by the hardened gambler Salim malik himself at the NCA. One starts to wonder why they were promoting him such a great find: his evident cricket abilities or for his taste in betting. One might argue he is young and was dragged into all this but let us not forget that this young man is over 18 and is apparently responsible for his own actions under Pakistani law so lets not try to overlook the sin which he has committed. If found guilty he should be banned from all forms of cricket for good. Lesson for the administrators that please keep the convicted felons away from nurturing of aspiring cricketers. How many paedophiles have you seen running a successful daycare centre?
Mr. Kamran khatmal (read bedbug) has never been my favourite and I always have been critical of him just for the sake of it really. I knew he acted more stupid than he looked and his indifference towards his horrendous performances made my blood curdle on so many occasions but never did I expect him to be a cheat of this kind. One is almost forced to rethink about every catch this parasite has put down- whether it was his lack of technique or the betting at work which made him spill it. Hope is probably the wrong word but I still pray that the younger akmal isn’t following in the footsteps of kamran because truth be told I wonder if the slump in his form suddenly is justified.
Smooth talking Salman butt came off as a rusty cog wheel in the news conference the other day but one thing did surprise me though (excluding his burp on live TV): he was really spiky if he was going to relinquish the captaincy. His defence included the sole matches which national team has won off late in each of the series. Well sir by winning those matches you just might be increasing your worth in the betting ground- I am sure you know what that means since your English is so much better than mine. This statement either meant he is not guilty(which I highly doubt) or he has honestly lost it.Also I would like to remind him that this bankrupt nation showered his men with exuberant prize money for winning those two matches- yes the president wasn’t distributing money from his own pocket but the tax payer coffers: newsflash!Not once did he refute the allegations against himself or his men and that just bore the look of classical convict who is walking towards the gallows. I wonder being a ring leader of such a racket can be placed in CV- if proven guilty he should be looking for new jobs unless offered a lucrative package by PCB that is. Wahab riaz looked like a thug and his actions didn’t defy his tough exterior either: in this case do judge a book by its cover.
Many die-hard fans still believe that all this is all a huge set up to sabotage the Pakistani cricket team. Well I will give them this much that News Of the World already says it was a sting operation in which our heroes (villains) were found short changed. Some argue that the video was shot after the match proceedings which have been sighted while others are saying the agent has Indian roots (apparently married to a woman of Indian origin). Who knows: Pakistani cricketers might walk through the path of fire to prove their innocence to come clean and Unicorns might also be discovered in the meanwhile but I won’t “bet” on it unless an inside man from our cricket team tells me otherwise. Like a cheated spouse I would never feel the same way about Pakistani cricket ever again and each loss of theirs would probably be asked to go through a paternity test even by the global community- after scrutinising their past performances ofcourse. Why doesn’t PCB do us all a favour and euthanize the sport at international level for a couple of years- maybe the future would then yield a phoenix or maybe not but in either case it would prevent an already emotionally depleted nation from suffering further heartache!
Saltyuzi's Blog 
Well I can understand the emotions you are going through right now and even agree with your article, (for the most part). But one thing I don’t approve of is dragging someone of the stature of Wasim Bhai into this whole sordid affair. Its true that he dogged such allegations throughout his career but may i remind you that none of them were ever proven and he was exonerated of all wrong doing by an appointed tribunal- so they remain just that- baseless allegations. In view of the current scenario where the entire infrastructure of the country has been infested with amoral and unscrupulous politicians and the only refuge for our troubled nation- their beloved sport of cricket- is also under threat of being consumed by the menace of corruption, one should realize that slinging mud at proven heroes of the past can only do more harm than good. Even if we assume for a moment that Wasim Bhai was guilty of all that he was accused of, I would still blame this shameless culture of feeding the rumor mill till everybody is convinced the accused is guilty but never getting down to actually convict him, for encouraging, maybe even emboldening the young impressionable Amir. Do you think Amir would have tread down the same path, if we had presented to him a clean whole some picture of Wasim Bhai? We must realize that by slandering our heroes we are only shooting ourselves in the foot and creating grounds for such tragedies in the future.
Calm down mate. I for one find it really difficult to feel the slightest bit of anger towards these deviants, when all they are doing is following the example set by our leadership. In fact since most of these guys hail from humble, impoverished backgrounds they atleast have the excuse of being blinded by the glitter of money they were seeing for the first time in their lives. Whereas the insatiable greedy politicians calling for immediate action against these “fixers” have no such excuse in their defence. Face it the rot is coming from the top and goes down to the very bottom, most of the people we see on tv heaping scorn and abuse on the players would have done the same thing without any hesitation, if they were in the same position.
It was a pleasure reading your article,but i am not sure which side i am on so i think i’m going to take a while before saying something in this regard.But anyways,keep up the good work.
Happy writing!
Not a convincing one. Better luck next time. You need to work hard on it. And for your kind information, Kamran Akmal has been released out of the case and will not be interrogated any further. I strongly believe that rest of the players will be released pretty soon as scotland yard has already said proofs are not enough to keep anyone involved in the case. It is clear from all this that it was a baseless story dramatized by indian lobby alongwith british media “news of the world” (famous for such type of baseless stories all over the world)
True NOTW for such antics but that being said i’m suspicious of my team-they would probably be released because of “lack” of evidence but then again president of Pakistan has also been exonerated by the courts!