Former PCB chairman Ramiz Raja said he would have banned legendary cricketers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis forever from Pakistan cricket for their involvement in the national team’s involvement in match fixing.
Referring to Justice Qayyum’s report on match-fixing, which pointed at Akram’s involvement in the scandal and subsequently led to his ouster as captain of the team, former batter Raja said Akram and Younis shouldn’t have played for Pakistan again.
The Justice Qayyum report, which was filed in 1995 and released in 2000, saw Younis being fined later as well once the details were made public. Both Akram and Younis, however, continued with their Pakistan career until their retirements in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Both returned to Pakistan later in coaching capacities in multiple stints.
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“I think no one should have had the chance (of coming back to Pakistan cricket). If Wasim Akram’s name is in there, and he was censured for not cooperating, right? It was a borderline case. If I was the decision maker at the time, I would’ve banned them forever,” Raja told Samaa TV.
“You brought them back to system. I wasn’t in power at the time. We were told to play with them and work with them, and that was it. No one knew how to tackle that. So many people were involved in that. I don’t know what the compulsion was.”
When asked if he would have meted out a similar treatment to Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir, and Mohammad Asif – who were also banned after spot-fixing charges in 2010 – Raja said, “Whoever is tainted, I’ve zero tolerance on it.”
Amir played for Pakistan after serving a suspension and played for Pakistan in multiple World Cups but was shunned out of the team once Raja took charge of PCB.
“I’m absolutely clear. People say they’ve had the punishment, move on. But I’ve experienced such situations,” said Ramiz.
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