Pakistan talented enough to ride out scandal

Former captain Ramiz Raja said on Sunday Pakistan have the talent to ride out a spot-fixing scandal engulfing the national game.

“For me credibility and integrity are the main issues and there is a need to draw a line between whether we want suspicious players or we just want talented players,” Raja, also a member of the International Cricket Council’s Pakistan task team, told AFP.

Pakistan cricket’s image took a devastating knock when Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer were provisionally suspended by the ICC on charges of spot-fixing during team’s Lord’s Test against England in August.

The trio, suspected of contriving deliberate no-balls for money from an alleged bookie, appear before a ICC anti-corruption tribunal in Doha, Qatar, from January 6-11 and face severe punishment, including possible lengthy bans.

Several other players including Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik and Danish Kaneria were not cleared for selection by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) because of past allegations of fixing against them.

The ICC also directed the PCB to take serious measures to curb corruption, threatening sanctions.

The PCB subsequently introduced a new code of conduct with stricter punishment for graft and launched corruption awareness courses at domestic level.

LAHORE, Pakistan, Sunday (AFP)