ICC launches probe against Pakistan amid suspicious betting patterns
LONDON: England's victory over Pakistan in the third one-day international in Sharjah last Tuesday is being investigated for corruption, Daily Mail reported.
Following an erratic performance by Pakistan it is
understood that investigators from the ICC's anti-corruption unit have
requested data from international betting markets about irregular betting
patterns.
England won the
match by six wickets after Pakistan
collapsed from 132 for two to 208 all out, including three farcical run-outs.
They then dropped three catches in the field and missed a stumping.
Officials were tipped off after the toss in Sharjah that the
illegal Indian betting market, worth billions of dollars per game, was
expecting Pakistan
to underperform.
It has also emerged that officers were warned about
potential corruption before the series began.
Rumours were rife among bookmakers in the country, and the
ICC received intelligence that there could at least be an attempt to manipulate
the betting odds in favour of syndicates who would be betting huge sums.
Former England
captain Michael Vaughan used his Twitter account to question Pakistan's
performance.
He wrote: '3 run outs and a few iffy shots from Pakistan. Never
seen that before!!' He followed that with: 'They must all think we are stupid.'
Vaughan, who later deleted the tweets, was criticised by
ex-Pakistan batsman Rameez Raja. 'Vaughan's
comments are highly irresponsible and I think he is just looking for cheap
publicity to stay relevant on social media,' Raja said.
'Pakistan's
running has always been bad and we all know Mohammad Hafeez particularly isn't
great between the wickets. The team tends to panic whenever it's under pressure
and it is nothing new.'
An Anti-Corruption and Security Unit source said: 'After
comments like that we couldn't ignore it but we also had other reasons to look
into it.'
The chief reason is suspicious betting patterns — one
of the key signposts for fixing. The ICC have been told that twice the 'normal'
amount of money was wagered on Pakistan to lose in a game which attracted more
than £20million in bets on Betfair, the international betting exchange.
The day before the Sharjah match, England were rated as strong
favourites to win. Seasoned odds watchers would argue that was an extremely
rare event for any England
one-day team in Asia, where they traditionally
struggle.
Pakistan coach Waqar
Younis said on Friday night: 'I am aware of these allegations. We may have lost
[in Sharjah on Tuesday] but we lost fair and square. I'm satisfied my players
have done nothing wrong, and that there is nothing in these allegations.'
