Former Pakistan captain Mushtaq Mohammad feels Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif got away lightly in the spot-fixing scam and the two should have been slapped with longer prison terms by the London Court which found them guilty.
Published: Nov 05, 2011, 02:04 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 05, 2011, 02:04 PM (IST)
“It also surprised me that Mohammad Asif received only a year. That really surprised me. He is 28 and not exactly a youngster. He should have got four years at least,” Mushtaq Mohammad said © Getty Images
London: Nov 5, 2011
Former Pakistan captain Mushtaq Mohammad feels Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif got away lightly in the spot-fixing scam and the two should have been slapped with longer prison terms by the London Court which found them guilty.
“I don’t feel sorry for the players being sent to the jail. I have sympathy only for Pakistan cricket because its image has once more been dragged through the mud,” Mushtaq wrote in his column for The Daily Telegraph.
“The maximum sentence that could have been applied in London was seven years and, in the case of Salman Butt, that would not have been too much. He was the captain who influenced this whole thing. And the agent should have got the same,” he added.
“It also surprised me that Mohammad Asif received only a year. That really surprised me. He is 28 and not exactly a youngster. He should have got four years at least.”
The only convicted player Mushtaq felt some sympathy for was 19-year-old pacer Mohammad Amir.
“In the case of Mohammad Amir, I believe the judge was exactly right. He was only 18 years old. Potentially he still has a future in front of him. He was almost as big a victim as the game itself, because he should have been protected,” he said.
Mushtaq said he feels especially angry with Butt, who failed to realise his responsibility as captain.
“I’m angry with Butt and can’t believe he got away so lightly. If he had not been caught he would almost certainly have carried on doing these dirty things,” he said.
“It’s a pity because Salman won two Tests as captain and he was showing that he might become a very good captain of Pakistan. He had a lot of talent, but he also had a corrupt mind. He is the one most responsible for bringing disgrace on Pakistan cricket,” he added. (PTI)
