Was surrounded by match-fixers during my playing days: Shoaib Akhtar

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has revealed that during his playing days he was surrounded by match-fixers in the national team.

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has revealed that during his playing days he was surrounded by match-fixers in the national team. In a chat show with Samina Peerzada, the 44-year-old cricketer said that he had a belief that he can't cheat his country and that is why he never did a match-fixing.

"I was always of the belief that I can never cheat Pakistan, no match-fixing. I was surrounded by match-fixers," said Shoaib Akhtar on the chat show 'Rewind With Samina Peerzada.' "I was playing against about 22 people (sic) -- 11 theirs and 10 ours. Who knows who was the match-fixer. There was so much match-fixing. Mohammad Asif told me which all matches they had fixed and how they did it," he said.

He further added that his teammates were involved in the fixing and Mohammad Asif even told him which matches they fixed. The spot-fixing scandal happened in August 2010 during Pakistan's tour of England following which then captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, and Mohammad Amir were sanctioned by the ICC.

Butt, Asif and Amir were eventually banned for a minimum of five years in early 2011 by the ICC's anti-corruption tribunal after they were first suspended in September 2010. "I tried to make Amir and Asif understand. What a waste of talent. When I heard about this, I was so upset that I punched the wall. Pakistan's two top bowlers, smart, intelligent and the two perfect fast bowlers were wasted. They sold themselves for a little money," said Akhtar.

Of the suspended trio, only Amir managed to make a successful comeback to the international cricket. Akhtar played 46 Test matches for Pakistan in which he scalped 178 wickets while in 163 ODIs he had 247 dismissals.

In the shortest format of the game, he played 15 T20I in which he bagged 19 wickets. On October 29, the ICC had banned Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan from all forms of cricket for two years, with one year of that suspended, after he accepted three charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code. (ANI)

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