‘Players are just pawns’: Former Pakistan skipper says board officials may be involved in fixing
Latif further said that ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit only tells players to avoid certain individuals but do not take concrete steps.
Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif on Thursday made huge claims about match-fixing in cricket and said that the boards are as much responsible as the players. Speaking in a Youtube video, Latif said that the boards have protected players accused of fixing. “The cricket boards have always given support to players accused of fixing. We always blame the players. Yes, they are involved in fixing. But are cricket authorities not to be blamed as well,” he asked.
Latif further said that ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit only tells players to avoid certain individuals but do not take concrete steps. “The ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit tells players to stay away from certain individuals. But the cricketers are playing franchise cricket for teams owned by the same individuals with whom they are suggesting to stay away from. It’s a big problem,” he said.
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“If no member from the board is involved, then they will always punish a player. But the top officials of the boards, or some members of the boards who have been placed by political contacts, are somewhere involved, and hence, players always get protected,” he added.
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“Every cricket board all over the world, have protected their players. Every country has protected their players who were found fixing matches. This is why the window of T20 cricket and franchise cricket had to be created to tell players that do whatever you want to do here, don’t do it in international cricket,” Latif went on to add.