Barely five days after its scandal-hit tour of England ended, fresh turmoil gripped the Pakistan cricket team Monday with suspended pacer Mohammad Amir’s shocking revelation that he was lured into spot-fixing by Test skipper Salman Butt.
On a day when team manager Yawar Saeed stepped down from his post, the Pakistan Cricket Board was left to do more firefighting in the spot-fixing scandal with the latest revelation.
The 18-year-old left-arm pacer was suspended by the ICC for alleged involvement in spot-fixing during the fourth Test against England at Lord’s last month, along with Butt and Mohammad Asif.
PCB sources said Amir told chairman Ijaz Butt that he never wanted to be part of this “business” (spot-fixing), but was forced into it by Butt and Asif.
“Amir had gone to Butt and claimed he was innocent and a victim of the ‘seniors’ power lobby’ in the team,” a source told PTI. But the PCB refuted the reports, with legal adviser Tafazzul Rizvi saying that the implicated players still claimed innocence. “All three boys have been saying all along that they did not do anything wrong and they stand by it. They claim innocence and complete innocence and nothing but innocence. We are holding our investigations back at the moment, and are waiting for Scotland Yard’s investigation report,” he said. —PTI