Raja: Banned trio should be kept away

Sport360 staff 18:21 28/09/2015
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  • The inaugural edition of the PSL will be played in the UAE in February.

    Former Test cricketer and Pakistan Super League (PSL) ambassador Ramiz Raja has reiterated his firm opposition to the return of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif into both domestic and international cricket, stating they should be kept away from the game they ‘sold’.

    Amir, in particular, has been backed by cricketing circles to return to the international fold, while Butt and Asif have largely been shunned despite the pair’s determination to play top level cricket once more.

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    All three were involved in the now infamous spot-fixing scandal at Lord’s in 2010 and Amir has received widespread sympathy for his role, deemed a naïve youngster taken advantage of by his more experienced teammates.

    “There is no mercy in my dictionary for the fixers, for those who have sold the game and thus likes of Amir, Asif and Salman should be kept away from international cricket and PSL as well,” Ramiz told Sport360.

    “I’ve played cricket with integrity all my life which is why my views on this subject are very strong that you need to keep away the corrupt elements from cricket for the betterment of the game.

    “What those three did is unforgivable and if it would have been in my hands, I wouldn’t have allowed to them to be part of PSL because it could be detrimental for such an important project and image of Pakistan cricket,” added Raja. 

    Former Pakistan quick Shoaib Akhtar recently said that he wanted to buy a franchise in the PSL in order to take Amir under his wing, a move condemned by Ramiz who would like the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to keep all three players away from the PSL in a bid to legitimise the project.

    "I am planning to buy a team in the PSL and would like to have Amir in my team so that I can guide him and make him an effective bowler," Akhtar told AFP last week.

    "Everyone knows how talented Amir was when he played cricket so on his return he will have to work hard to become the same bowler.”

    Raja, however, believes that Pakistan cricket needs the PSL to be different from other leagues and establish a credibility and integrity that attracts even more of the game’s star players and sets the standard for the next generation of the country’s cricketers.

    There has so far been no word from the PCB as to whether the trio will be up for auction, but they have so far said that they will all be available to play domestic cricket once they have completed a rehabilitation programme.

    Amir has already successfully gone through the PCB’s rehab programme and made his return to domestic cricket in January this year. All three players were cleared to return to all forms of cricket as of September 2.

    The inaugural edition of the PSL will be played in the UAE from February 4-24 with five franchises competing.

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