Former Pakistani skipper, Shahid Afridi claims that the Men In Green trio, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were just like brothers to him after the convicted men were handed jail sentence by Justice Cook.
In a sad day for cricket, Butt was sentenced for 2 years and six months for his involvement in spot-fixing, while Asif suffered a 1 year jail sentence. Amir, the youngest of the lot faced 6 months in prison after the court failed to offer any leniency in their verdict.
The left-hander ex-skipper, Butt was charged for conspiracy to cheat, accept and obtain corrupt payments, while Asif was jailed on accounts for conspiracy to cheat, after no money was found under his possession when the event took place.
Amir, along with bookie, Mazhar Majeed, who earned the maximum jail sentence of 2 years and 8 months, had pleaded guilty which resulted in a reduced sentence.
Afridi, who played with all three of the banned trios was dejected by the whole incident; however, felt that such verdict was necessary for the sport to remain clean forever. He somewhat blamed the Pakistan Cricket Board for not taking the initiative of defining boundaries for players, while also claimed that the players do not earn as much as they should.
The all-rounder also added that he considered the trio just like his own brothers and claimed that young players are enticed into wrongdoings due to lack of awareness.
"The players were like brothers to me. I have never been approached by a bookie but I know that young players are trapped into it (spot-fixing)," said Afridi.
Earlier, the player announced his conditional retirement from cricket after a public row with former coach, Waqar Younis and ex-chairman, Ijaz Butt. However, with the two men gone from the helm, he made himself available for selection and was immediately recalled for the national team’s forthcoming ODI assignments with Sri Lanka.
Finally the flamboyant star also commented that spot-fixing is not simply associated within Pakistan as such menace is spread throughout the cricketing world. For everyone’s sake, let’s hope that the sport learns from such depressing event.
