Former Pakistan cricketer Abdul Razzaq has revealed that Shahid Afridi slapped Mohammad Amir to make the youngster confess on spot fixing. Spot fixing scandal in 2010 shook the cricketing world and three Pakistan players were involved.
The scandal tarnished the image of Pakistan cricket in front of all others. The all rounder went on to reveal that his fellow teammate Salman Butt was involved in corrupted activities from much earlier days.
“He (Afridi) told me to leave the room but after a while I heard the sound of a slap and then Amir told the whole truth,” Razzaq said.
The 39-year old Razzaq also was disappointed with the way PCB acted during the scandal. He revealed that no proactive actions by the board made negative image on Pakistan cricket across the world.
“I thought instead of going to the ICC to prove its efficiency, the PCB should have instead directly taken the three players to task despite their denials and sent them back home on some pretext. They should have banned them for a year or so. In the end by not doing this, the PCB spoilt the image of Pakistan cricket worldwide.”
Razzaq was sure that Salman Butt was involved in corruption much before.
Speaking on Salman Butt, Abdul Razzaq revealed an incident where he got his doubts on Salman Butt. Eventually, he told Shahid Afridi but Afridi just dismissed the doubts on the occasion.
“I shared my concerns with Afridi but he said it is just my waham (misconception) and nothing is wrong. But when I was batting with Salman Butt during a match of the World T20 in West Indies, I was convinced he was letting down the team.”
“I was surprised when he refused this strategy. When I realised what he was up to (something) I told him strictly to give me the strike. Yet every over he deliberately played two or three balls and then gave me strike. I got upset and felt the pressure and got out.”
The spot fixing scandal had created tremors in cricketing world. It happened when Pakistan were touring England in 2010. At the iconic Lord’s, Mohammad Amir was found bowling deliberate no balls.
On further investigation, the spot fixing came to the limelight. ICC took severe action against all the three players involved. Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt were all found guilty in the scandal.
Eventually, they were handed bans from all forms of cricket. Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt were given 10 year bans, while Mohammad Amir was banned for 5 years. But the ban was later reduced for the former two players as well as they trio served at least 5 years of ban.
However, Mohammad Amir is the only player who made a comeback into Pakistan national team. He is currently representing Pakistan in World Cup 2019.