PCB picks two stars as role models

Anti-Corruption Education Programme launched to educate players on keeping ‘unwanted elements’ away

ISLAMABAD: At a time when the players of Pakistani cricket team are striving hard to perform in T-20 Asia Cup 2016, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) picked two stars from the past—Imran Khan and Javed Miandad—as their role models to avoid bad practices of spot and match fixing.

The federal government revealed this before the upper house of parliament on Tuesday in reply to senators’ questions. It also said that the players of national cricket team are continuously kept under watch during international tours by anti-corruption and security officer, who is part of the team management.



The board also launched ‘PCB Anti-Corruption Education Program’ to educate players how to keep ‘unwanted elements’ away, besides techniques to remain fair and transparent in their dealings. The board also arranged special lectures for the players.

The PCB picked an excerpt from the book “Sir Vivian The Definitive Autography” for Pakistani players, which read, “He (Imran Khan) and Miandad are two of the most patriotic individuals I have met, and I can identify with that. I am quite certain you wouldn’t be hearing stories about match fixing and bad things if they were at the helm. Both would die for their country.”

In its education program, the PCB also shortlisted some incidents of match fixing and the consequences for a player and his country. The history of match fixing is also part of the PCB’s curriculum.

Pakistani players are also asked to read Justice Qayyum Report that recommends a ban on several top Pakistani cricketers. They players are also shown videos of 2010 spot fixing of Muhammad Aamir, Muhammad Asif and Salman Butt, as a correctional measure.



Haroon Rasheed, who is a former member of Pakistan cricket team and was appointed as coach, was of the opinion that some matches, including the one day between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Colombo in Asia Cup 1997, were fixed. Similarly, in the home one day series against India at Karachi in 1997, Saqlain Mushtaq gave away 17 runs in the last over. This kind of bowling, according to Rasheed, was not expected from a star like Saqlain Mushtaq.

Rameez Raja, former captain of the Pakistani team, maintained that the only incident in his entire career when the players were accused of match fixing was during the tour of Sri Lanka in 1994.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2016.