Sports: Match-fixing; Calling the third Umpire

Sports

India Today
Sep 21,1998

CRICKET: MATCH FIXING
Calling the Third Umpire

A committee suspects three top Pakistani cricketers of throwing matches but action will be taken only if a judicial inquiry corroborates these serious findings within two months.

By Fareshteh Gati-Aslam

Inside edge to insider trading. Pakistan cricket is beginning to really stink. The first whiff of scandal came when former captain Salim Malik was accused by Australian players Shane Warne and Tim May of offering them bribes to tank the Karachi Test match in 1994-95. This week, matters turned somewhat more acrid. An interim report of a probe committee appointed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) told it not to include Wasim Akram, Salim Malik and Ejaz Ahmed till they are cleared of the charges of match-fixing against them. Justice Choudhury Ejaz Yousuf, who headed the two-month investigation, pointed out that "categorical allegations have come on record" against these senior cricketers, two of them former captains. And sought remedial action, saying "the committee considers very much appropriate to save the new entrants to the game from being affected".

With the publication of the probe committee report, some of the accusations of shady deals in Pakistan cricket have come out into the open. Over the past two years, there had been many unsubstantiated reports from the subcontinent about top players indulging in match-fixing. In Pakistan, some players had wanted to expose the illegal deals but were baulked by board officials who wanted to present the image that all was well. By their action the office-bearers ensured that neither justice nor cricket was served. As a result the dirt kept piling up until the PCB was left with no choice but to launch a probe.

Public interest in the scandal is such that people are not satisfied with just the probe committee report. In September first week, the Pakistan Government constituted a one-man judicial inquiry to give more teeth to the probe committee findings. Justice Mohammad Malik Qayoom has been given powers to examine each witness in-camera to eliminate the fear that the witnesses had of recording testimonies. While the probe committee's mandate had been largely fact finding in nature, the judicial inquiry would be binding on the PCB.

The judicial inquiry is expected to complete its report in two months -- at the end of Australia's tour of Pakistan. For the first time since they began testing the limits of fair play, Pakistan's cricketers have a sword hanging over their heads. The message from the PCB is clear. "We will not try and sweep anything under the carpet but we will give everyone a fair hearing as well," says Chief Executive Majid Khan, the initiator of the clean-up drive. This will surely make matters uncomfortable for those named by the probe committee -- Malik and Ahmed, doing duty for Pakistan in the Sahara Cup in Toronto, and Akram, about to complete a season with the English county Lancashire.

Indeed, there was a debate on whether the "tainted" players should have been included in the team for the Sahara Cup. The division in the PCB set-up itself was exposed when the executive committee chose not to act on the probe committee's recommendations. Chairman Khalid Mahmood, who does not see eye to eye with Majid Khan, made it plain that Malik and Akram should not have been punished now but in 1995 and 1996 when they are supposed to have fixed matches. "We will not victimise anybody. These players have the right to defend themselves," he says.

As Pakistan and India clash in Toronto, the focus will be on the players named. Malik is on a comeback bid while Ahmed had a good run with the bat last year. Akram, fighting injury and poor form, was stripped of the captaincy in January. "Unless I'm cross-examined, no one can defame me," says Akram. While the judicial inquiry goes on, the probe committee, according to Mahmood, "will collect further evidence and forward it to the court for their reference".

The probe committee's interim report is based on the statements of cricketers Ata-ur-Rehman, Aamir Sohail, Basit Ali, Saeed Anwar, Aquib Javed and Rameez Raja, managers Intikhab Alam and Haroon Rasheed and journalists, including the author of this article. Fast bowler Rehman repeated the allegations he had made in his affidavit to the PCB earlier this year. He had said that Akram offered him $9,000 (Rs 3.8 lakh) to bowl poorly in the one-day international against New Zealand at Christchurch in 1994. He also said that after he submitted his affidavit, Malik and Akram approached him not to disclose anything to the probe committee.

Sohail reiterated whatever he had said in an interview to The News in March 1997. He disclosed that he was offered $120,000 (Rs 51 lakh) to score less than 10 runs and to run out opening partner Saeed Anwar during Pakistan's Asia Cup match against India at Sharjah in 1994. The report states: "Sohail maintained that the Pakistan players would initially play according to their potential but would throw one or two matches when the odds were in their favour." The left-handed opener also alleged that Akram had visited a night club on the day before Pakistan's match against India in the 1996 World Cup at Bangalore and told everyone that he was fit to play the next day but had opted out at the last minute. India went on to win that match on the strength of Ajay Jadeja's heroics.

"It is true that match-fixing does take place," Alam told the committee. During a match in Colombo in 1994, he said, "one of the bookies informed me on telephone that Pakistan players were fixing the match. The bookie was furious as he had lost Rs 40 lakh". He also alleged that former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal took an unusual interest in the match. On arriving in Colombo, he took some Pakistan players to a corner and "whispered something to them".

Javed's testimony was the most damaging. He said that when Pakistan toured Sri Lanka in 1994 under Malik's captaincy, he "received a telephone call from a Pakistani player in Sri Lanka" telling him that he had to "contact Salim Pervez of NBP who would pay him Rs 50 lakh and a vehicle for personal use" if he wanted to be included in the touring team. Javed says he later found that other players had accepted the money and the vehicles. He also claimed that he had seen a bookie "having close liaison with seven to eight Pakistani players". When Javed objected, Akram apparently told him that he would not be included in the team as long as he was the captain "and it virtually happened".

Former Pakistan coach Rasheed admitted that there was "evidence of foul play". The committee notes: "While recalling the first match in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, he stated that Pakistan was required to score 225 runs. Malik and Inzamam were batting and the target was well within their reach (when) Inzamam unnecessarily ran himself out on a call made by Malik. Subsequently, Malik also threw his wicket away. Pakistan lost by 15 runs ... In the second match in the Sahara Cup, Pakistan needed 208. Malik and Saqlain carried the innings ahead but thereafter Saqlain ran himself out. Malik followed him by throwing his wicket away like he did in the Asia Cup."

Rasheed also pointed to instances during the Sharjah tournament last season when Akram deliberately sent out-of-form batsman Ejaz Ahmed despite Inzamam and Azhar Mahmood being the in-form batsmen. Pakistan lost both games. Rasheed concluded that though he had no proof that the two matches were fixed, he had "a strong feeling" that "the matches in question were lost by the players deliberately".

More has to be done to substantiate these charges. Apart from the probe committee if Justice Qayoom also finds the players guilty, the PCB will be forced to take action. The repercussions are certain to not only impact Pakistan but also the rest of the cricketing world.

Issue Contents | Write to us | Subscriptions | Syndication