Pakistan captain Misbah wants life bans for fixers: ‘Our image is spoilt to a great extent’

Pakistan’s Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq has called for life bans on anyone found guilty of fixing, adding that an investigation into five players threatened years of work to clean up the country’s image.

Misbah-ul-haq was installed as Pakistan's Test captain in 2010 following the spot-fixing scandal involving three players during a series in England, including then captain Salman Butt. Rick Rycroft / AP Photo
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Pakistan’s Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq has called for life bans on anyone found guilty of fixing, adding that an investigation into five players threatened years of work to clean up the country’s image.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has provisionally suspended Sharjeel Khan, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Irfan, Shahzaib Hasan and Nasir Jamshed on charges linked to spot-fixing and failure to report approaches by bookmakers during the recently-held Pakistan Super League.

The case, which is being investigated by a judicial commission, has revived memories of a 2010 scandal that involved the national team and deprived it of three top players including paceman Mohammad Amir, who has since made a comeback.

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Misbah was appointed captain in the aftermath of that tainted series in England, and set about rebuilding the team with an ethos that emphasised discipline and integrity.

His team steadily climbed the world rankings and rose briefly to No 1 last year.

“Obviously it’s disappointing and there should be a law that once you have done something wrong you should not return to this field again,” Misbah said.

Pakistan’s rehabilitation on the international circuit had appeared to be complete last year when Misbah led the team on its first tour of England since the 2010 scandal, in a series praised for its sportsmanship.

Mohammad Amir, left, Salman Butt, centre, and Mohammed Asif, right, were all found guilty of sport fixing in 2010. Clive Rose / Getty Images

Misbah, 42, was subsequently awarded the International Cricket Council’s Spirit of Cricket award — testament to the high regard in which world cricket holds him.

“We did our best to clean the game up and the seven years of hard work and our image is now spoilt to a great extent. You cannot afford this again and again,” he said.

Earlier this month Misbah shelved plans to retire and will now lead his team in next month’s three-match Test series in the West Indies starting on April 22.

Pakistan are desperate for a turnaround after suffering whitewashes in their last two series.

“It will be a tough series and we will not take West Indies lightly because they gave us a tough time in all three Tests last year,” said Misbah of Pakistan’s 2-1 win in the UAE.

“The conditions there will be tough and the ball will spin so you can’t relax.”

Pakistan will play four Twenty20 and three one-day internationals against West Indies before the Tests.

* Agence France-Presse

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