'I was playing against 22 people' - Shoaib Akhtar on match-fixing scandal in 2010

Pakistan cricket was agitated to a helm when their top players were caught in a match-fixing scandal back in 2010. They were handed with long bans from the ICC anti-corruption unit and that incident had rocked the cricket world when everyone got to know about it from the media.

The incident happened in 2010 when Pakistan was playing 4th Test match against England at Lord’s, when  Salman Butt, fast bowler Mohammad Amir and experienced seamer Mohammad Asif were convicted of a conspiracy and later on they accepted that they were involved in fixing. Now, the former Pakistan speedster, Shoaib Akhtar has cast a light on his feelings as he was the part of that team.

Shoaib Akhtar recites on the match-fixing scandal

Shoaib said that it was an unlike feeling and had lost his faith in his teammates. It was him playing against 22 players in the match as anyone in the team can be a match-fixer. He also recalled an incident when the alleged pacer Mohammad Asif told him in which all matches they had done match-fixing and how they did it successfully.

“I was always of the belief that I can never cheat Pakistan, no match-fixing. I was surrounded by match-fixers. I was playing against 22 people (precisely 21) — 11 theirs and 10 ours. Who knows who was the match-fixer. There was so much match-fixing. (Mohammad) Asif told me which all matches they had fixed and how they did it,” former Pakistan cricketer said in the talk show Rewind with Sameena.

44-year-old also recited that he was badly hurt when he came to know about the involvement of Asif and Amir in the fixing. “I tried to make Amir and Asif understand. What a waste of talent. When I heard about this, I was so upset that I punched the wall. Pakistan’s two top bowlers, smart, intelligent and the two perfect fast bowlers were wasted. They sold themselves for a little money,” he added.

However, Mohammad Amir managed his comeback into the national team but Asif and Salman Butt are still due to make their first appearance. Recently, Bangladesh ace all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan was handed with a ban of two years from ICC after he was found guilty of breaching the code of conduct for failing to inform the fixing approaches.

Lasith Malinga four wickets vs NZ

[interaction id=”5dad6c5d7bf76bf418bf701c”]