Former Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider, who fled to London midway through the recent series against South Africa, has promised to reveal more names involved in match-fixing, while bookie Mazhar Majeed, who was caught in a sting operation by The News of the World that led to the suspension of three players, has said that there were four more players guilty of spot-fixing. Another couple of names at this moment and Pakistan will be left without any of its first strength team players and there will be a serious question mark on whether it will even be able to field a team in the forthcoming 2011 Cricket World Cup.
Many have opined that if players are axed during a cleaning up process, younger players will take charge and deliver the goods for Pakistan. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case either
Pakistan's Geo TV, apart from reporting Majeed's disclosure of four more names involved in match-fixing, also put out a report on Tuesday where doubts have been expressed over the Pakistan vs Afghanistan match in the recently-conluded Asian Games.
Afghanistan beat Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a clash with Bangladesh in the final of the T20 event that made its Asian Games debut in China.
After the semi-final match, Pakistan wicketkeeper Naeem Anjum was dropped for the bronze medal match against Sri Lanka.
Geo TV reported that in a letter sent to the Pakistan Cricket Board, it has been alleged that captain Khalid Lateef deliberately did not bat as per the required run rate, while Azeem Ghumman missed many deliveries.
The Pakistan trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif have already been suspended by the PCB and the ICC for being involved in spot-fixing during the tour of England this summer.
On Tuesday, it was reported that Majeed had revealed that Kamran and Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz and Imran Farhat were also involved.
If the charges are proved against these four players and the PCB and the ICC take the same action against them as they have against the trio, seven of Pakistan's first eleven will be unavailable for selection for the World Cup.
Majeed has categorically denied the involvement of only four Pakistani players who were on the tour of England - ODI skipper Shahid Afridi, former captain Younis Khan, all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.
So while Pakistan may not have to look for a new skipper ahead of the World Cup, they're facing the ominous task of getting a team for their skipper to lead out in to the middle.
