Nasir Jamshed jailed for 17 months over spot-fixing charges in PSL

The former Pakistan batsman Nasir Jamshed has been sentenced to 17 months in prison for his part in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) spot-fixing scandal. The cricketer had pleaded guilty to the offence in December last year and the Manchester Crown Court sentenced him to jail on Friday. Jamshed was arrested along with British Nationals Yousef Anwar and Mohammed Ijaz who were sent to jail for 40 and 30 months respectively.

Nasir Jamshed was found guilty of encouraging the players to underperform deliberately in the PSL 2018 game between Islamabad United and Peshawar Zalmi in Dubai. He was set to receive his share of GBP 30,000 for the same. Moreover, during the investigation of the case, the police officials also found out an attempt to fix a Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match at the end of 2016.

It has been reported that Jamshed was initially targetted in a two-dot-ball plan in the BPL game, but it was later called off. However, the cricketer executed the plan later in the PSL coercing Sharjeel Khan to play two dot ball in the second over of the Islamabad United’s innings. The PCB had then banned Sharjeel for five years even as Jamshed was banned for 10 years.

Another Pakistan cricketer Khalid Latif was also barred from playing cricket for five years as he was found guilty of working with Jamshed for a future fix.

Judge’s statement while sentencing Nasir Jamshed

“By far the most insidious consequence of these offences is the undermining of public confidence in the integrity of the sporting contest, not simply in the individual match directly affected but in the game of cricket generally. Corruption of this kind has sadly been taking place in the game of cricket for a very long time.

“If anything it has become worse due to the proliferation in the last decade of hugely popular televised international T20 tournaments in all the major cricketing nations, combined with a huge increase in online gambling. What makes cricket, and specifically these T20 tournaments in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, so vulnerable to corrupt practices, is the existence of a huge, largely unregulated online betting industry in the Indian sub-continent,” Judge Richard Mansell QC said according to Cricbuzz during the sentencing at the Manchester Crown Court.

Nasir Jamshed has played 2 Tests, 48 ODIs and 18 T20 Internationals for Pakistan but this sentencing and the PCB’s ban might have ended his career.