Just when everybody in the cricket world was thinking that Zulqarnain Haider
failed to live up to his commitment of naming the people who were
involved in match-fixing, former Sri Lankan captain, Hashan
Tillakaratne, exploded another bomb when he claimed
that match-fixing is present in cricket like a cancer since 1992.
Many international cricketers across the globe have been banned or
fined because of their involvement in corruption. The list includes
former captains Hansie Cronje, Saleem Malik, Mohammad Azharuddin and Salman Butt. It also contains names like Shane Warne,
Mark Waugh, Ata ur Rehman, Ajay Sharma, Marlon Samuels, Nicky Boje, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif.
One reason why no more international matches are held in Sharjah
today is because of the fact that the venue was considered to be a hub
of match-fixing. The ground, at one stage was one of the most popular
cricket venues and has hosted a record 198 One Day
Internationals and four Test matches. Cricket authorities and
especially, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), were of the opinion that bookmakers had a huge influence in Sharjah.
Although many players from all across the cricketing world have
admitted their wrongdoings in the game, somehow corruption in cricket is
associated with Asian teams like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The whole controversy of match-fixing was brought to light by former Pakistan captain, Rashid Latif and middle-order batsman, Basit Ali
in the 1990’s. The duo alleged their team-mates of losing matches
deliberately and announced their retirement from international
cricket as a protest against corruption. However, both players took
back their decision later on and joined cricket again.
The former wicket-keeper has jumped into this controversy once again
and has backed Tillakaratne’s claims of match-fixing in international
cricket. Latif said that he knows Tillakaratne personally and the former
Sri Lankan captain is a man of his words.
Latif said that the left-hander told him about corruption in the game
in the early 90’s. Latif also claimed that Tillakaratne will go on and
reveal some of the huge names of Asian cricket, who are involved in
match-fixing.
Rashid, added, “I know him personally, he told me about this
(match-fixing) in the 1993-94 as well. Nobody knows the subcontinent
players better than him and if he reveals the facts then a lot of former
cricketers from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka would
be exposed.”
Cricket boards from Pakistan and India have held independent
inquiries against some of their players involved in match-fixing in the
past, with a couple of players from each country facing life bans.
After the accidental death of the banned South African cricketer,
Hansie Cronje, the International Cricket Council (ICC) took strict
actions against match-fixing and developed a separate anti-corruption
unit in order to rectify the problem. By 2010, it was
thought that match-fixing has been eliminated from the game because of
ICC’s measures.
Cricket fans started to trust their teams once again after ICC’s
claims that match-fixing is no more a possibility, as strict steps taken
by the anti-corruption had paid-off.
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