Shahid Afridi makes war against
betting scandal
betting scandal

Pakistans one-day cricket captain Shahid Afridi declaired to put aside a raging betting scandal allegedly involving three of his key players and lead his side from the front in the series against England in Cardiff from Sunday.

 Afridi said Thursday that his team was going through a tough time because of ’spot-fixing’ allegations against some fellow team-mates but they will try to give their best in the series.

 Shahid Afridi  is hoping that allegations against Pakistani players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir of involvement in a betting scam will prove wrong.“It has hurt us all and we are hoping that the controversy will end soon,” he said.

 The tainted trio missed a practice game against Somerset in Taunton as they are in London for a crucial meeting with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and International Cricket Council (ICC) officials and senior diplomats.

“Salman, Amir and Asif are three of our key players,” The three are also unlikely to feature in the one-day series as the PCB is under increasing pressure to drop them in the wake of the spot-fixing allegations, their possible axing will be a huge setback for his team Afridi said. 

 England are a very strong team so it was a tough assignment for us. It would become even more difficult for us if we are forced to play without them,” he stressed.

“Our main task is to shift our focus completely on the upcoming one-day series. We are doing that and I’m confident that my  players have the ability to put the scandal behind them and give their best in the series.” he said.

 

Pakistan lost the four-Test series against England 1-3 last week at Lord’s where the finale was overshadowed by the ’spot-fixing’ scandal. Angry fans raised slogans against the accused players as they left Lord’s after crashing to their worst-ever Test defeat last Sunday.

There are fears that Pakistan might have to endure hostile crowds during the one-day series but Afridi is confident that his team will give their fans plenty of reasons to cheer about during the Twenty20 and one-day games.