Published: Nov 21, 2015, 09:04 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 21, 2015, 09:38 PM (IST)
Controversial England batsman Kevin Pietersen believes that Mohammad Aamer must not be welcomed back into international cricket and must been chucked out of the game for his involvement in spot-fixing in 2010 when Pakistan played England in a Test match. He made these comments in his book Kevin Pietersen in Cricket, which is a follow-up of his autobiography, which added fuel to fire and eventually led to his exclusion into the England side. “I know Mohammad Amir was only 18 when he got into trouble, and that he was a special talent,” Pietersen says. “I also know that he and Mohammad Asif were from poor backgrounds and were offered a hell of a lot of money for a few seconds’ work.” READ: Kevin Pietersen slams decision to drop Ian Bell for England vs South Africa 2015 series
“But I don’t care; they should not be coming back. I don’t feel badly towards them and I wish them well in their lives, but the game is bigger than us, the game will be around a lot longer than us, and we don’t have the right to steal from it,” he added, according to espncricinfo.com .
“We play fairly, we play tough, we play positively, we play negatively, people play the way that they want to play. But there’s no place in the game for corruption, and if you get caught you have to be given a life ban,” writes Pietersen. READ: Kevin Pietersen ends Ram Slam stint with a half-century
According to Pietersen, England did not want to bowl at Pakistan after knowing that what three players from the visiting party had done. Pietersen says,”When the spot-fixing story broke… that day was the worst I’ve experienced in cricket. The guys didn’t even want to bowl to them, we didn’t celebrate the wickets that we took; everything about it was horrendous. We just felt so much anger towards them. We could not believe what they’d done.”
“Match-fixing, spot-fixing – I’m fierce about anything like that. If you’re caught you should never play again, because we have an amazing game. There are so many honest blokes out there, trying their hardest and committing to everything to make a living, and if you’re cheating then sorry, I’m afraid that’s got to be it,” he added. READ: Kevin Pietersen: Andrew Strauss was correct in not picking me for Ashes 2015
Pietersen has scored over 13,000 international runs for England across formats since his debut for the Three Lions in November 2004.
