Mohammad Aamer

Karachi: Barely 5 days after the end of their in the news scandal-hit tour of England, Monday gripped the Pakistan cricket team with suspended pacer Mohammad Aamer’s shocking revelation that he was lured into spot fixing by Test skipper Salman Butt.

PCB was left to do more fire-fighting in the spot-fixing scandal with the latest revelation. The 18-year-old left-arm fast bowler was suspended by the ICC for his alleged involvement in spot-fixing during the fourth Test against England, at Lord’s last month, along with Butt and Mohammed Asif.

Sources in the PCB said Aamer had told Chairman Ijaz Butt that he never wanted to be part of spot fixing but was forced into it by Salman and Asif. “Aamer had gone to Butt and claimed he was innocent and a victim of the ‘seniors power lobby’ in the team,” a source said.

But the PCB refuted the reports with legal adviser Tafazzul Rizvi saying that the implicated players continue to claim innocence.

“All 3 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 we are waiting for the Scotland Yard’s investigation report,” he said.

Another PCB source revealed that Aamer, Pakistan’s most promising young talent revealed to Saeed about the pressure being exerted on him by Salman Butt. “Aamer’s claim is that he just did what he was told to do. He is claiming innocence now and says he didn’t even know Mazhar Majeed was introduced to him by the Test side skipper and Asif,” the source said.

Many former Pak Test captains, and even Pakistan’s former President, Pervez Musharraf, have urged the ICC to show leniency towards Aamer, 18 and the fastest to take 50 wickets in Test matches. But chief selector Mohsin Khan said that he didn’t agree with the viewpoint that Aamer should be shown leniency because of his age. “I don’t buy this argument because if you can do something wrong at 18, you can keep on doing it later as well. If these 3 players are found guilty they should be punished, including Aamer,” Mohsin said.

Meanwhile, PCB media manager Nadeem Sarwar told reporters that Saeed, during his meeting with PCB chairman Butt, requested to be relieved of his duties as national team manager.

“The chairman has accepted his request. The PCB will decide on a new manager later on for the forthcoming series against South Africa,” Sarwar said. Saeed, when contacted, declined to comment on his decision stating that he had done his duty as manager in England and that his agreement with the board was on a series to series basis.

“I have had a long discussion with the chairman and he understood my point of view,” Saeed said. Saeed and Ijaz Butt are close friends and since Butt took over as chairman in 2008, he has reposed faith in Saeed except for the tours to New Zealand and Australia early this year.

By: Devesh D. Bhuwad

Tags: Cricket, Ijaz Butt, Mohammad Aamer, PCB, Salman Butt, Sports, Spot Fixing