Karachi: Former captain Shahid Afridi Sunday said that he did not blow the whistle on the spot-fixing scandal that rocked world cricket during Pakistan’s tour of England in 2010.
Having discussed in detail about the spot-fixing scandal in his autobiography ‘Game Changer’, Afridi insisted he did not pass on the information or messages to the tabloid ‘News pf the World’ which eventually broke the story. “These players (Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamir) still think that Lala (Afridi) blew the whistle about them to the newspaper that is not true. It was one of my friends in England who passed on the information without informing me and even after that the newspaper carried out its own investigation and sting operation to confirm and trap the players,” Afridi said on a news channel.
Afridi said his former team-mate Abdul Razzaq had first talked about the involvement of some players with fixers when the team was playing the World T20 in West Indies in 2010. “Razzaq kept on telling me after one match against Sri Lanka that he had doubts about Salman Butt but I did not believe him at that time. I said they are like our younger brothers.
Later on as fate would have it a damaged mobile which went to a repair shop and whose owner knew my friend in England revealed messages that surprised me and made me suspect that these players were indeed spot-fixing matches,” he said. Afridi, who retired from international cricket in 2016, said he was hurt and disappointed when Butt’s involvement in the scandal was confirmed as he liked him a lot.
He also maintained when he first saw the messages about Butt, Asif and Aamir, he could not sleep for few days and did not have the courage to share it with Razzaq who realised something was wrong. Asked why he did not confront Butt and the other players about the messages, Afridi said he was let down by the reaction of the team management including Waqar Younis and Yawar Saeed. (PTI)
