Hawkins claimed that he had submitted the proof to International Cricket Council (ICC) in February 2011 while the semi-final was played in March 2011.
It was duty of the International Cricket Council to monitor and assess the semi-final after receiving proofs of fixing but the body paid no heed.
He claimed that ICC is not capable of eliminating the corruption and fixing menace from the cricket game. The ICC needs overhaul to prepare to combat this menace from the world cricket that is proving harmful to the once called gentlemen’s game, he added.
He further said that more than one hundred thousand bookies live in India who are controlling match fixing menace in cricket world.
He said that his aim is to purge the cricket game from corruption and to eliminate fixing mafia that is proving harmful to the game.
He further said that he had spent months in investigating corruption in cricket, adding that the day when a significant match was being played he received a tweet from an Indian bookmaker named Parthiv, a contact he had established during his investigations.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) rejected the allegations in April 2011, saying there was no evidence to require an investigation into the match, but Ijaz Butt, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) at the time, said there a need to probe into the matter.
"My suggestion would be that the matter should be investigated," a private news channel quoted Ijaz Butt as saying. There were a lot of allegations in Indian newspapers and even in Pakistani newspapers but there was no investigation."
Pakistan Cricket Board’s former boss Ijaz Butt has now called for an investigation of a possible foul play in the ICC World Cup 2011 semi-final between arch rivals India and Pakistan.
It is worth mentioning that Ijaz Butt was head of PCB when the controversial match was played and he opted not to give a statement at that time on the alleged fixing match. He has now chosen to put some pressure on the ICC and on current big wigs in PCB with his latest demand.
The controversy has again made headlines after extracts of a book by sports-betting journalist Hawkins was published by Britain's Daily Mail newspaper, in which author claimed that an Indian bookie had accurately predicted the outcome of Pakistan's innings.
According to Hawkins, the Indian bookie tweeted to him during the Indian innings on how Pakistan would eventually fall from grace. Hawkins described that the bookie had told him that Pakistan would reach 100 easily then lose two wickets quickly, reach 150 with five down and lose by more than 20 runs.
Pakistan eventually lost the game by 29 runs, continuing their losing streak in the mega event against the Indians.
Pakistanis were suspected of throwing the game right from the start as while fielding first they dropped Tendulkar four times to help him score a match-winning knock of 85. Experts at that time reckoned that had Pakistan neutralised the batting maestro earlier, India would have been pinned down easily.
It seems that cricket in Pakistan and India is likely to face another tough round of allegations, proceedings and media assault.
Before the World Cup, Pakistan was struck by spot-fixing scandal a month before the semi-final when three of their top players - Salman Butt, M Asif and M Aamir - were handed long bans by the ICC for arranging no-balls to order during a Test against England in 2010.
He noted, “Bookie update… India will bat first and score over 260, 3 wickets fall within the first 15 overs, Pakistan will cruise to 100, and then lose 2 quick wickets, and at 150 they will be 5 down and crumble and lose by a margin of over 20 runs.”
The author was of the opinion that “had this been received from anyone other than an Indian bookmaker, it would be considered a wild guess.” But involvement of an Indian bookmaker made this information really authentic.”
No comments:
Post a Comment