Match-fixing and spot-fixing is nothing uncommon in cricket. Now former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed has revealed that his international career ended because he refused to toe the line.
Aaqib has alleged that another former cricketer Saleem Pervez would introduce Pakistan players to bookies who would offer them money to throw matches. Javed claimed he refused to take ‘orders’ and that that his Pakistan career ended early, at the age of 26 in 1998.
“Lavish cars and millions of rupees were handed over to cricketers. I was also asked to fix matches and told that if I did not comply, my career would be finished. Players were approached with match-fixing offers through a former cricketer named Saleem Pervez,” Javed was quoted as saying by a news channel in Pakistan.
Pervez, who played a solitary ODI in 1980 and passed away in 2013, had confessed to offering money to Saleem Malik and Mushtaq Ahmed, according to the 1998 Qayyum inquiry report.
The names of Aamer Sohail and Aaqib also came up in the match-fixing scandal in 1998. But Aaqib claimed: “When I came to know about fixing, I took a strong stance and stood by it. I don’t regret the fact that it shortened my career as I strongly believe in my values. People tried to sideline me from tours because of my stance and would also reprimand those people who would talk to me.”
Aaqib claimed 54 wickets in Tests and 182 scalps in 163 ODIs.
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