This week marked the end of a dark chapter in the history of Pakistan cricket that began with a scandalous exposé of three Pakistani cricketers involved in spot-fixing in their tour of England at Lord’s last year. The guilty verdict criminally convicting Pakistan’s ex-captain Salman Butt, 27, and Muhammad Asif, 28, was saluted by many all over the world and is seen as a positive move in the right direction towards ridding the sport of corruption.
Cricket was once the epitome of ‘gentleman-like behaviour’. However, this image of cricket has been tarnished over the years. The massive sums of money that it now brings in via ticketing, satellite television rights and competition, sponsorships from a range of companies, etc, has led to insatiable greed amongst some players. Also, its increased popularity has contributed to its evolution in terms of the introduction of different formats as opposed to the traditional test matches.
An anti-corruption and security unit set up by the ICC to monitor deviant behaviour has time and again proved a failure in exposing all those allegedly implicated in jeopardising the integrity of the sport. Needless to say, the role of the PCB in this regard was neither sufficient in adequately responding to the breaking of the scandal initially, nor was the PBC bothered to look into the allegations so as to hold the perpetrators to account for their ignominious deeds.
The illegal practice of corruption and cheating in sport, especially cricket at the domestic, club and international level, has been ongoing for decades. It is a consequence of the failure of the ICC and the respective country boards to crack down on this menace. The spirit of the game must be restored and it can only be done by implementing a zero tolerance approach towards corruption, ensuring a complete uprooting of all illicit and dishonest betting activities that have plagued cricket as a transparent spectator sport based purely on the skills of the players and not their pre-planned conspiracies to deceive the fans or influence the outcome of the game. Through exemplary punishments, a message should be sent out to all those young and upcoming players who will hopefully think twice before partaking in such disgraceful and reprehensible activities in the future. *
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