Sports

Aamer is 'not that kind of chap'

Asif Bajwa rejected allegations that the youngster is involved in corruption.

August 29, 2010

The mentor and coach of teenage cricket prodigy Mohammad Aamer, Asif Bajwa rejected allegations that the youngster is involved in corruption after he was named in an undercover match-fixing investigation.

Asif Bajwa told The Associated Press that Aamer, who has been likened to Wasim Akram, ‘is not that kind of chap.’ Mohammad Aamer was named Man of the Series and collected a £4000 cheque from the sponsors.

The 18-year-old Aamer claimed a test best 6-84 in the fourth test against England on Saturday. Hours later a British newspaper alleged he and fellow opening bowler Mohammad Asif deliberately bowled no-balls in a spot-fixing scam.

Asif Bajwa first met the left-arm fast bowler when he enrolled at Bajwa's cricket and school academy in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Sports minister promises life bans

Sports Minister Ijaz Hussain Jakhrani promised life bans for any Pakistani cricketers found guilty of match-fixing. He said he is waiting for the Pakistan Cricket Board's report on the match-fixing allegations, so he can take action accordingly.

The cricket board was ordered to prepare the report by President Asif Ali Zardari.

Zardari's spokesperson, Farhatullah Babar, said the President wanted to be kept informed of developments of any inquiry that may be ordered or held in London. He said PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt has been directed to immediately submit a preliminary report about the incident.

‘Current scandal could have been avoided’

The current match-fixing allegations against the Pakistani players in England could have been averted had the recommendations made by the Qayyum Commission been fully implemented.

Malik Mohammad Qayyum told AFP while many of his recommendations were upheld, two players were banned and several were fined.

Qayyum claimed the Pakistan Cricket Board was not 'strong enough' to implement other recommendations. He said some of the players are still involved in the team's coaching, despite his recommendation against them.

Moreover, Qayyum said he recommended that players' assets must be examined annually, though this too remained unimplemented.

COMMENTS (37)

Majid | 14 years ago | Reply I do not know if the players are innocent or not - neither do any of us, so we should not judge them yet. But The Guardian Newspaper in the UK has just ran a story Thursday 2 September 2010 17.28 BST - written by James Robinson - http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/02/mp-news-of-the-world-inquiry - It details that The News of The World paper which made the video of the betting scam uses illegal phone tappings of many public figures in the UK. Keyword here is 'ILLEGAL', this is a news paper which belongs to Rupert Murdochs News Corp. Group, and I want you to all to take a look at the where the allegations against the players have stemmed from. How can you trust a News paper which uses illegal methods to make headlines and sell papers. Before I read this story I thought wrongly of Pakistan's cricketers too, but having read this story in The Guardian newspaper about the Illegal activities of the News of the World Paper, I am now not going to jump on the bandwagon against the players, and I think they have been setup, just like Wajid Hassan says. Please take a look at the story in The Guardian newspaper's website, and The New York Times has also reported on the illegal activities of Rupert Murdochs newspaper.

Naeem | 14 years ago | Reply SaLam Aamir is the best player of our cricket team.he isn't involve in any wrong thing.. bye

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maitre | 14 years ago | Reply Do not pray Allah for corrupt bunch of cricketers becaus He throws all the irrelevant invocations at the Prayer seekers' face. Pray for the honour of incorruptible and think above personnel liking or disliking. Let the Scortland Yard Polic report publish then defend or accuse anybody. Until then no comment. Besides our country's reputation is far greater and important than some individuals. Would you like to be labeled as cheats?

Ali | 14 years ago | Reply I pray to MY ALLAH that Please SAve Mohammed Aamir, cuz its very difficult to find such talent like Aamir,,, and i pray as well that plzzz remove Kamran Akmal from side for ever,

Dr Qaisar Rashid | 14 years ago | Reply @Sathish Reddy. Do read my comments to Anonymous.

Areefa Azam | 14 years ago | Reply Hate the crime not the criminals ...

Rana Nauman | 14 years ago | Reply All i can say is, hopefully the U.S will make us their 53rd State soon. We are not fit to govern ourselves, interact with the civilized world, or even be trusted in sports. Truth be told, we were better with india! Shame on us. After a visit here in the 80's, an American senator once remarked "these people will sell their mothers for money........." I agree.

Adeel Ahmed | 14 years ago | Reply If a person like Jakhrani can be our sports minister... and before that Dasti (do I need say more), our players, especially Aamer, the youngest bowling sensation ever, should be forgiven (after some sort of punishment), as that is what is best in the national interest; not to lose your best bowler by far... a bowler who has the potential to surpass wasim akram, and what a feat that would be!

Sathish Reddy | 14 years ago | Reply Dear Dr Rashid, With all due respects to you,your intelligence and your education, I think your line of argument makes absolutely no sense and your adamant and opinionated thread is taking you nowhere. I dont see the point in getting defensive about what your countrymen have done and thereby damn the country you are living in. No one is suggesting the Pakistan as a whole is rotten. But there are players who are taking the country down that road and countrymen who dont show the gumption to stick to ethics help. The Players are being accused of TREASON in the country of Pakistan. That Dr is the greatest crime against the state. Here we are reading you casting aspersions against the country you live in, making unnecessary comments about the size of Tabloid and that they have made money in this sting. Of course Doc they have made money - what do you think Amir and Asif made ????????????? Cookies. Get real Doc. These guys have harmed the country and that has been made known to the world. It is time for us to start damning these guys and saying - " we wont take it no longer". I hope you can wake up and smell the coffee Doc.

Yusaf Khan | 14 years ago | Reply Don't think Mohammad Aamir is a match fixer. I don't care what News of the World have to say. On the other hand, Kamran Akmal definitely looks like a match fixer. I do hope part of the match fixing was Stuart Broad scoring a century. Hate that guy and his father.

tauseef | 14 years ago | Reply I cant but laugh helplessly at how we are trying to back up our cricketers. Guess we have forgotten Bob Woolmer's death or shall I say murder? Its not about Aamir, Salman, Asif or Kamran. Ive never believed in the match fixing stories but its all too open now. We have a very weak case to plead. Have a look at the third "No" ball that Amir bowled- the one which was a short-pitch delivery: see how Salman comes over and talks to Aamir before the delivery and see how Salman looks at the bowling crease at the time of delivery, standing in the shortish mid-on position. Its obvious. Aamir might be naive. What about Asif, Salman or Kamran? And its not about the players. This guy who is caught and now released on bail had been afrequent visitor to the dressing room- all under the noses of the PCB Officials. Do you think that these officials are kids not to have noticed this? Or do the higher ups in the PCB not know about it. My sense tells me otherwise. Does anybody remember who is Miandad's son married to? Or if anybody could remember when Shoaib Malik and Imran Nazir( if I remember correctly) gave up a domestic match between cities to Wasim Akram and Team on a platter when they could have easily won it. Does anybody know that Saleem Malik who was banned for life for the match-fixing allegations is holding an office in current PCB set-up. How about if we recall Jan Sher Khan's scandal when the World Champion in Squash was defeated by an ordinary player and Jan Sher lost without winning a single point. Who are we trying to kid- ourselves only! The world knows the truth and if I was a part of the English Cricket Team, I would refuse to play against Pakistan in one-Dayers or T-20's if any of these four players are allowed to play. ( I'm looking forward to some harsh criticism from my friends- but I dont think I have said anything wrong.) Keep your patriotism to yourself if you are going to justify cheating on such grounds.

Dr Qaisar Rashid | 14 years ago | Reply @ Anonymous. The betting rackets are in large supply in the UK, if you have ever been to the UK. Further, the UK is itself a den of the betters. Name any street and city centre, betting dens are there. What their law says, don't cheat during betting. Kindly update your knowledge. Regarding the circulation of the tabloid, I have heard it first time from you. When I had been to there, I never read that tabloid. Nevertheless, I used to read the dailies. Just understand the meaning of tabloid. These are based on sensational news. Sun is also another tabloid. It is popular and vastly circulated in the blue collar workers because it publishes nude pictures and publishes scandals and pictures of the celebreties. Would mark Sun as the most valuable tabloid around? Just try to understand the build of the British society. One of the most rich nations on the earth is fond of doing betting and opting for lottery to get richer. That is the sickness of human minds. Aamir needs grooming and teaching but no punishement (if he was involved). Lastly, for god sake come out of inferiority complex. The colonial era is no more. The British society and press are full of mistakes and blunders. They require introspection more than we.

Dr Qaisar Rashid | 14 years ago | Reply @those who objected to my point. Why do you think a British tabloid took pains to use a middle man (or agent) to lure the Pakistani bowlers -- if the point of spot fixing is considered correct? Do you think the tabloid was doing any favour to the game of cricket? How many of you had heard the name of that tabloid before? That was a cheap way to gain popularity to sell the copies of tabloid. There is a stiff fight in the British press to stay relevant. That is why tabloids like that seek or make opportunities to grab headlines. There are also several more around. In the past, the matches were fixed (done or attempted) by experienced cricketers of Australia, India, South Africa, Pakistan and others. Amir is too naive and is an inexperienced to handle the dirty world outside the cricket stadium. I expect that he was the target of the tabloid to seek cheap popularity and fetch money. Still there is no proof that the money given to the middle man was actually handed over (or given somehow) to the two bowlers. We still don't know the exact role of the middle man. In fact (if the allegations are considered true), the tabloid just invested 10,000 GBP to fetch cheap popularity. Shame on it. Ask the tabloid manager, contact me. I am a doctor, I will provoide him better employment.

User | 14 years ago | Reply @ Dr Qaiser Rashid the weekly ,which has exposed the betting racket is the second most circulated news paper of world,and most popular wekly of UK.why do pakistani always feel that they are being made scapegoats or victims of conspiracies,all over the world.whole world is after their talented players and out to destroy their brilliant careers.this time the evidence is staring us in the eyes.this ostrich like mentality has wrecked havoc in all spheres of pakistani society.running away from problems is not going to solve them.also i find these scandals are a manifestation of a bigger rot in the pakistani society.time for introspection....

sultan, Abbottabad | 14 years ago | Reply well said Anoop, agree with what u said

sultan, Abbottabad | 14 years ago | Reply Totally agree with Mr. Usman regarding Jhakrani and Zardari it is always the top which inspires and motivates people down the ladder to perform in the way they perform. So no question about involvement of Amer, Asif, Suleman and Akmal brothers. Moreover when Imran Khan threw Salim Malik out of the team it was just the right thing to do. Ijaz Ahmed must have been involved in all this disgrace I assure you of that.

Anoop | 14 years ago | Reply @Dr Qaisar Rashid, You are still sticking up for that cheater? 2 no-balls he bowled. He might as well have bowled it half way into the pitch. I think your likeness for him is clouding your judgment. In 1999, when the match fixing controversy happened India banned 2 of its best cricketers. They were both ex-captains but we did it because it was the right thing to do. Pakistan let the likes of Wasim Akram, Rashid Latif go. They are now paying the penalty. For once, do the right thing and ban these traitors. I dont have much hope of this happening so you can be happy. Your fav cricketer will be back on the field after some rest.

arif | 14 years ago | Reply Agree with @Dr Qaiser Rashid absolutely.

Sathish Reddy | 14 years ago | Reply In my last comment I asked if Pakistan could build on the victory in the 3rd test. Very obviously they could,nt. They lost badly in the final test on the field - Worse, they lost humiliatingly off the field. I have been asking myself why this happens to Pakistan all of the time. Cant blame everybody else for ganging up against Pakistan all the time. That is silly. The reason is the right precedent is never set, when incidents like this occur. How many opportunities has Pakistan lost by defending guilty players, laying the blame on some invisible enemy, sulking that it was being targeted and side stepping the issue instead of going after the guilty and hanging them publically for humiliating their country and causing suffering to millions of fans. Severe actions act as good precedents, the lack of which has led to the mess that Pakistan is in and will get into in future too. Match fixing and spot fixing need contacts, need a good amount of PR work to be place for players and a lot of guts on the part of players. If you take the example of Md Amir - a young, impressionable boy of 18 that he is, is in all probability an innocent and naive kid. For him to do this is quite unbelievable unless there are people around him telling him to go the wrong way so that they could gain with the change. What I dont understand is why there are no people around him who tell him that he could conquer the world with his talent,(that is if he has'nt already). On the other hand if these boys are mature enough and grown up enough to make these kind of choices by themselves - which I dont believe for a moment, then something is wrong with the ethics of Pakistani society, Sadly. The people who run cricket in that country are to blame. The parents are chastised for the acts of the wayward child. Still I am not confidant anything will come out of this. There will be eye washes after eye washes, token fines will be announced ( I wonder if all the fines that PCB has levied have been collected. Is there proof ??) bans declared ( Only to be overturned in weeks on some Politicians pressure ) investigations and explanations galore, and denials by the dozens. By the time all this is done there would be a lot of water under the bridge and everything will return to its pristine normalcy until the next ignominious episode occurs and then Kamran will write his blog about this issue again and a whole lot of fans will despair. I don’t see anything else happening.

ali hamdani | 14 years ago | Reply Rather than just sports I would like to say it is a matter of ‘corruption’ and the image of Pakistan at a time when we seek aid from Donor countries. What message are we sending to them? Corruption!

rehan siddiqui | 14 years ago | Reply Lack of accountability in the country had brought shame and will continue to bring disgrace to the nation as long as corrupt are in the saddle. While the players found guilty should be banned for life but the major blame lies with the presidency past and present. Presidents should have no business in cricket. Handpicked men by presidency had played havoc with the nation's popular game and it is time the game is run on the lines of a corporate office like in England, Australia and South Africa. As long as presidency and prime minister houses are involved in picking friends and relatives to head PCB and PHF such shameful acts would raise their ugly heads in future too.

Umer | 14 years ago | Reply Everyone is innocent unless proven guilty.

Anoop | 14 years ago | Reply @Azeem, There was a couple match suspension on Afridi. Not a ban. PCB had the authority in that case to ban him but didnt. Suspension by the match referee is not same as ban. He was ordered to pay a certain amount by the PCB. It didnt dare ban him, lest it hurt his supporters. If all the Pakistani players (some of whom were greats of Pakistani cricket) who were involved in match fixing in 1999 were punished then, this wouldn't have happened. Here, is a Pakistani blog talking about how PCB took shortcuts in 1999 and which has resulted in this ultimate embarrassment for Pakistan. http://uk.asiancorrespondent.com/fiverupees/taking-out-the-trash-four-questions-on-the-spot-fixing-scandal-and-its-ramifications

Aristo | 14 years ago | Reply Anyone who believes he or she has done a bit of this in their lifespan for which the Pak team players have been accused of i.e. (cheating, bribing, lying, corruption, gambling, etc) has no right to point fingers at them. The players are a product of our Pakistani society, not aliens who have come down from space. First have a good look into yourself, if unable to find a single dot on your character, then have the courage to judge others. I am quite certain, out of the 170 or 180 million population of Pakistanis 99% will have to drop out on this criterion. Please refer to what Jesus (Hazrat Isa AS) has to say about it.

Nasir Khan | 14 years ago | Reply Too early to reach to any conclusion. Everyone is innocent unless proven guilty.

Faizan | 14 years ago | Reply Agreed with Usman !!

Dr Qaisar Rashid | 14 years ago | Reply The young and brilliant cricketer, Amir, did not now how cunning these British are. The newspaper, which is not very popular, tried to buy cheap publicity through scandal mongering. The circulation of the newspaper may have enhanced. Even if the spot fixing allegation is correct, no need to punish Amir but to groom him to stay away from such people who may tarnish his (and his country's) image. Forget the past and prepare for the one day/T20 series.

Abdullah | 14 years ago | Reply guys dont lose hope i think this is in retaliation of the comments by salman butt about england attack and so i think they have been setup and also whats the proof that the video of the man telling when the no-balls will happen was made before the match or after the first 10 overs which were predicted.the video was made in a hotel room and there is no proof that i can see that it was made before the match.i think that it was made after the no-balls had been bowled to set-up our team. (hope)

ALI Ahmed Khan | 14 years ago | Reply To accuse any player before the allegations are proved beyond doubt is not justified.A thorough inquiry should be conducted by a joint team of investigaters from FBI and Scotland yard and if somebody is found responsible,he should not only be barred from cricket for life but also put behind the bars for cheating and defrauding the country and the cricketing world at large.

Azeem | 14 years ago | Reply Anoop Afridi served his ICC imposed ban and paid the fine that was set on him. also if you would check the news of the world website that same site that has accused these cricketers is also testifying to Afridi's honesty. Mazhar Majeed said that players wanted Salman Butt as Captain for all formats cause Afridi wasnt letting them do this stuff.

Anoop | 14 years ago | Reply Sports minister "promises" life bans. We all know whats going to happen. No life bans, only 1 or 2 year bans. Its actually a resting period. If an important series, say against India or World cup comes up, then that ban is reduced to just before the series or completely lifted. Aamer will get a max 6 months ban, which will be reduced or lifter completely considering "lack of evidence" against him. Check out his massive no-ball. I hope everybody remembers this on the day when PCB will let him play on the basis of 'No evidence'. http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/924391/The-three-balls-that-will-shake-world-of-cricket.html Out of the present lot so many have been banned. But, all have come back before their said periods. Asif,Akhtar,Younis,Yousuf are in the uneviable list. I thought Yousuf's ban was for an "indefinite" period. It actually means: 'Till we need his batting talent'. Pakistani Cricket fans, do not worry. PCB wont ban anyone. All the corrupt guys will be back playing for the Green of Pakistan. Oh and another thing. What does everyone think of the kind of punishment a player should get if he cheats shamelessly in front of the world world, with all the cameras on him? Answer: No ban, just pay up some money, which I am sure he has not paid till date. The guy is Shahid Afridi, caught on camera,literally, eating the ball.

Usman | 14 years ago | Reply Firstly, I strongly condemn these alleged acts of game-fixing by the Pakistani players; these acts cannot be justified by any excuses. Secondly, I find it ironic that our political 'leaders' (Zardari and Jakhrani) are taking this so seriously and promising life bans for these players. If these two-faced leaders had exhibited this level of honesty, accountability, and responsibility while dealing with the corruption of their own political brethren - we would be a much better and honest state by now. This is the height of double-standards: corruption by players is unacceptable and needs to be punished by life bans; corruption by politicians is ok and can be tolerated for the sake of 'reconciliation', strengthening of democracy, and for maintaining the supremacy of the parliament. What a farce?

Hamid Waseem Sheikh | 14 years ago | Reply Actually this man lost in glamorous world of cricket and gracious ALLAH have gave him alot that he didn't handle it. Shame on him.

Eeman | 14 years ago | Reply When everyone is looking straight, where is he looking? Mazhar Majeed?

Nasir Mustafa | 14 years ago | Reply Corruption and success can not go side by side, now choice is yours!

Tilsim | 14 years ago | Reply This goes simply way beyond a case of match fixing. Our international reputation is already torn to shreds by our behaviour and this is another example of what Pakistanis are like - totally without honour. It will have a negative impact on the collection of funds for flood victims. These people need to be put behind bars and the key thrown away - a life time ban is a joke. It's not sufficient compensation for the damage they have done by even allowing this stink to surface at this time, guilty or not.

Hamza Malik | 14 years ago | Reply It is shameful and disgusting. No wonder we lose young new players to corruption and end up having non performing players.

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