PHOTO: AFP
The International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit is investigating England’s win over Pakistan in the third ODI, where Pakistan lost a cluster of wickets batting first, and collapsed from a stable position result in a comfortable defeat.
According to Daily Mail, after the toss in Sharjah, officials were tipped off that the illegal betting market in India, worth billions of dollars per game, was expecting Pakistan to under perform.
Vaughan's anti-Pakistan tweets an attempt to gain cheap publicity: Ramiz Raja
ICC received intelligence that there could at least be an attempt to manipulate the betting odds in favour of syndicates who would be betting huge sums.
On Betfair, the day before the Sharjah match, England were tipped as favorites, which was not normal considering it was Pakistan’s home series, and the series was level at 1-1.
During the match, Pakistan became favourites when they were 132-2 in the 29th over, but lost next six wickets for 30 odd runs, which included two run outs.
Anyone in the betting circle can earn a lot, if the person can predict or have the knowledge of any potential batting collapse on the cards. This is called “flip flop” in terms of batting as the odds turn upside down in a matter of few minutes.
Match fixing reports baseless, says Waqar
The debate began after former England captain Michael Vaughan used Twitter to raise concerns about the wickets pattern of the Pakistani innings, but later deleted his tweets.
Former Pakistan opening batsman Ramiz Raja criticised Vaughan, and called his tweets a “cheap publicity stunt”.
“Vaughan's comments are highly irresponsible and I think he is just looking for cheap publicity to stay relevant on social media,” said Raja.
“Pakistan's running has always been bad and we all know Mohammad Hafeez particularly isn't great between the wickets.
“The team tends to panic whenever it's under pressure and it is nothing new.”
Final ODI: Dazzling Buttler, Roy lead England to series win
Pakistan coach Waqar Younis rubbishes match fixing claims, and said he is satisfied with the player’s commitment.
“I am aware of these allegations,” said Waqar
“We may have lost, but we lost fair and square.
“I'm satisfied my players have done nothing wrong, and that there is nothing in these allegations.” conclude Waqar.
The article originally appeared on Daily Mail
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