As a nation we always believed in conspiracy theories whether it is law n order situation of our country, declining economy or the miserable position of our country in the sports which once we ruled, we always put the blame on outer hands which do not want to see us making progress. The recent spot-fixing scandal is one of such cases, recently ICC upheld its decision of Pakistani players suspension after they were allegedly caught through a mock bookie. Slaman Butt and Mohammad Aamir clearly denied the allegations and blamed the ICC for double standards, in a recent TV appearance, both of them said that it is a conspiracy against Pakistani cricket. Some of Tv channels telecasted viewpoints of general pubic and every one was saying that Pakistani players are innocent and it is a conspiracy against our cricket.
The role of our cricket board, our media and our government in the scandal was very controversial and questionable. One of our parliamentarians suggested the death penalty for the players involved, our media repeatedly made fun of the situation and played objectionable videos and songs making the matter worse for our players. More disgusting was the role of our cricket board, the chairman PCB did not show any stance on the spot fixing issue and let the players and ICC handle the case. ICC immediately suspended the players without any hearing or solid proofs but our board did not dare to fight for the players until proved guilty.
Now when players appeals against suspension have been rejected, they are boldly speaking against ICC and other boards which is again a mistake, they paid the price immediately as board suspended their central contracts.
As far as my limited knowledge about cricket concerned, I personally think there are two types of match fixing, paid or unpaid both need underperforming. Our players bluntly fixed almost whole series in Australia when we failed to win a single match in the recent tour, Pakistani cricket board took action on the basis of manager's report and players were handed fines and life bans. What happened afterwards is a different story but it was proved that some of our players intentionally underperformed (manager claimed they took oath on Quran to not perform under Younus). If our board have shown some credibility and responsibility, the matters would have been easily sorted out and Pakistani cricket might have been cleaned of the black sheep. But it never happened in the history and no different this time too, they all were forgiven one by one and now they all are playing again.
Believe me no one is our enemy, we are enough for us, "Huay tum dost jis kay dushman us ka aasmaa'n kyun ho", this is the time to clean our cricket from these black sheep, who knew Mohammad Aamir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif some years back when they were not playing cricket. This is the game of cricket and our country which gave them name, but most of them used for their own. We need to be realistic and accept the fact that no one is conspiring against us but the people who are from us and a part of us.
