Den of the match-fixing mafia is in India, alleges Aaqib Javed

Former Pakistan star pacer Aaqib Javed alleged that ‘Den’ for all the match-fixing related activities in India. He also added that after IPL had begun, questions were raised over the number of match-fixing related cases in the country. 

All of this blew out of proportion after the Pakistan trio - Mohammad Amir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif - were caught over spot-fixing in the fourth Test against England in 2010. Aaqib served as a whistleblower in the Pakistan team during the 1990s, which he believes had a telling effect on his cricketing career. 

“Questions have been raised about the IPL and I think the den of this match-fixing mafia is India. My career ended prematurely because I spoke against fixing. I was being threatened that I would be ripped to pieces. If you are vocal against fixing then you can only go to a certain extent in your career. This is why I was not able to become the head coach [of Pakistan],” he told Geo.TV, reported Hindustan Times.

The World-cup winning pacer also was critical of PCB’s move to give the trio another chance in international cricket. He revealed that this is stopping the board from making any kind of progress with the match-fixing mafia in Pakistan. Amir made his international comeback in 2016 against England, where he ran through the hosts’ batting order. 

“This mafia runs very deep and once you enter it you can never come back. Many cricketers were punished but the mafia was never identified. Both of them should be punished and this menace will only go away through severe punishments and lifetime bans,” he concluded.