Butt calls for probe into India-Pakistan World Cup semi
“There were a lot of allegations in Indian newspapers and even in Pakistani newspapers but there was no investigation,” BUtt said. -File photo
KARACHI: The former head of Pakistan’s cricket board Saturday called for an investigation into his country’s 2011 World Cup semi-final against India after a new book raised the possibility the game was fixed.
Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper published extracts of a book by sports-betting journalist Ed Hawkins in which he claimed an Indian bookmaker had accurately predicted what would happen in Pakistan’s innings against their arch-rivals.
Hawkins said the bookmaker, Parthiv, sent him a Twitter message during the Indian innings correctly calling that when Pakistan batted, they would reach 100 easily then lose two wickets quickly, reach 150 with five down and lose by more than 20 runs.
India won the match by 29 runs to book their place in the final where they beat Sri Lanka to claim their second World Cup.
Hawkins does not make any specific allegation of match-fixing but cites a statistician as saying the odds of the bookmaker predicting the outcome in such detail purely by chance would be 405 to one against.
Suspicions were raised at the time, particularly over Pakistan’s sloppy fielding — they dropped Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar four times as he made a match-winning 85.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) rejected the allegations in April 2011, saying there was no evidence to require an investigation into the match, but Ijaz Butt, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) at the time, said there should be a probe.
“My suggestion would be that the matter should be investigated,” Butt told a news channel in Pakistan.
“There were a lot of allegations in Indian newspapers and even in Pakistani newspapers but there was no investigation.”
Pakistan were in the thick of a fixing scandal a month before the semi-final when three of their top players — Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer — were handed long bans by the ICC for arranging no-balls to order during a Test against England in 2010.
The PCB refused to give any official reaction to the allegations.
I am shocked to see so many pakistanis feel the match was fixed..The reasons they have is Pakistan can not loose against India otherwise, Tendulkar was dropped 3-4 times and India wanted to win the cup so BCCI fixed all the matches including Final..This is as ridiculous as it can get..India did really well in WC’10..They beat Australia in QF, Pakistan in SF and Sri Lanka in the Final. I don’t see Australians saying QF was fixed because Australia has beaten India way more than India has beaten them..Just accept the defeat graciously..You will also say Asia Cup match also fixed because Pakistan lost after scoring 329…
Of course it was rigged.
well,if its true then all the Pak players and Pak board are corrupt, they should be behind bars and be joining their friends in Jail (leaving just the ground keepers to play the matches, I guess they are at least honest and better players) ;-P
if Pakistan loses any match then it’s a match fix and if they win then it’s qaum(nation) ke dua.
i wonder if there is anything in between for us . Like a regular win or loss in a cricket match
If its true then Pakistanis know the art of match fixing.
I totally disagree with match fixing.. becasue even if bowlers fix the match by bowling un-orthodox length still the batsman have to hit for six.. its not easy even if we come to know where the ball would land… result can be either ways..
anyways to tell about india pak match, if it is fixed it can be only for slow battnig by pakistan players (younis khan, razzak, misbah, afridi).. which caused the other players like umar akmal loose thier wickets..
Hope you all realise that a winning team cannot fix, only a losing team can. You cannot pay a guy to score a hundred but can give a lot of money to drop catches, like Younis Khan did.
So, either way you look at it, Indian team is safe and uncorrupt, the suspicion has to fall on Pakistan.
Obviously it had to be fixed… Pakistan playing in India after the Mumbai tragedy for the first time & then imagine a Pakistani team beating the Indians & playing the final in Mumbai. The whole stadium would’ve been burning if Pakistan had done so. So the governments intervened & controlled the situation.
haha you guys never accept you played badly, do you?
India beat Pakistan fair & Square.
hahaha good fiction !
Did you want say Pakistan government did match fixing
India can only win in a fixed match!!!
When u don’t know to dance u blame the floor.
Does it mean the Pakistani team was up for sale and BCCI bought them?
If it is true, Cricket’s become American Wrestling.
Misbah ul haq also batted very slowly in that match as if he was playing a five day test.
Everytime Pakistan looses, the match must have been fixed? Are Pakistanis that good? They need to prove that on the ground!
Pakistani people are in love with conspiracy theories
match was not fixed india played well they deserve win and india is more capabale in handling pressure than pakistan .
Butt was an inefficient and corrupt person installed by the country’s president. What he says has no worth whatsoever. Investigation into corruption should take place as per laid-down standard procedures to make such processes equitable rather than use a witch-hunt policy or out of frustration. Historically, Pakistan has beaten India more often and has a better international record than India. It is surprising but, I suppose, possible that Pakistan has always been beaten by India in a world tournament.
I think all india pak world cup matches were fixed as pakistan is too good a team to lose to india in all world cup matches.
Pakistan can never loose a cricket match unless its fixed.
Question is who takes the money, so that Pakistan loose the match?
Surely its the opponent team’s players who take the money and win the match as well.
Very unfair.
Ok Tell me the meaning of fixing ? Pakistan lost in WC matches and you are saying all of them where fixed . That means Pakistani Players have/had taken money from bookies to lose those matches ( If Pakistani team so good ? I doubt against India .) .So where is the pride ?. Pakistan lost in either way .
Too good? Only, in the eyes of beholder!
I too agree… nationalism is less in pakistani team.. otherwise why they would do fixing and evade taxes…
So u think its better to take bribe n lose rather than playing poor cricket n losing? I hope these are just allegations, no shame in losing, but taking bribe n selling your motherland is pathetic…
Good – Now flog the entire team in Qaddafi Stadium and telecast it live. Would love to watch it from here.
Haha are you serious? Is that your logic? Haha you guys are really funny. So all the matches in world cup between indo-pak since past 2o years have been fixed. haha funny
The way Pakistan lost and Tendulkar was dropped it was quiet obvious to everyone….
Nothing is obvious unless you are at the same spot to take that simple catch. Many other simple catches were also missed by great fielding side like Aussies.
so now you understand how muck paki cricketers love their country??
All world Cups India beat Pakistan.
what else the players could do in your country………where evey beggar thinks he is the king,general,president of this world whereas in reality lives on alms provided by the rest of the world
I guess Butt is right. If it was not fixed, Pakistan would have lost by 100 runs.
Yes, pakistan never looked like winning… they are not a team, they are 11 individuals.
C’mon not again. Why is that match fixing gets thrust into the limelight whenever Pakistan loses a match? India deserved victory in that mztch and Pakistsn did put up a good fight.
Disgusting… Representing country and national flag but playing for money….. C’mon show some pride…
Looks like every game we play is fixed ..
not all games but Only those in which Pakistan has lost…
This is known rumor in Pakistan, immediately after World Cup 2010 Semi Final Match played at Mohali on 30 March 2011 that it was a fix between PCB and BCCI with the backing of their governments. Pakistan was on a winning streak. Afridi as captain had done well. The way Pakistani team behaved in batting, fielding and bowling showed it was a throwaway match. Bowler Wahab Riaz had almost ruin the party when he took four wickets since it was not expected of him to floor the seasoned Indian batting line up. However, Umar Gul played his part well by bowling wide and away giving 69 runs in 8 over without wickets. Beside, full support was given by Misbah ul Haq through his poor fielding & slow and wasteful batting ensuring the match be lost. The rough details are that PCB had agreed to let go the match in favor of India . The price would be resumption of cricket series between India and Pakistan. Since the World cup was organized in India & BCCI backed by Betting Mafia wanted to make it big. They offered a strong lollipop since PCB was feeling ostracized due to security concern in international cricket against Pakistan. It was a good bargain to lose the match and win a place to play against India and resume the series. For the good of the game such like mutually agreed National Decisions are generally done under the carpet. The coming series between Pakistan and India in Dec 2012 is the fruit of the throwaway match. why now, after two years this match is being probed since the beneficiaries of this match were the PCB and BCCI.
Tell me one match that you think was not fixed, I can say all the same things that you say about the 2010 semi-final match. Was the match in Asia cup in which India beat Pakistan was also fixed ? or for that matter all the world cup matches fixed in which India beat Pakistan ?
Your brains are fixed, not the matches.
If you really believed that your players fix matches why you continue to support same players in the following matches ?
Just to discredit Indian victory you are ready to accept that the players representing your country took money to underperform in a world cup match played in presence of your Prime Minister ! Thanks for admitting so much.
It’s not just the semi-final, take a look at the final as well. The body language of the Sri Lankan players was so lack-lustre, where they should have been excited at having the chance to win the world cup. Sanga seemed anguished even behind the stumps. It’s as if they had been told to lose the game and let India win. There should be an independent inquiry into this through a globla sports body. The ICC’s complete denial also suggests that they may have been privy to this.
Srilankan team is a professional team, no professional team will get excited in a crucial match. We should not be jingoistic, we should accept the defeat, our guys didn’t play well. Its not the first time we are loosing against the Indians. Anyone can raise doubts, but they should claim the truth by providing proofs.
Shame on our cricketers if this is true. They should all be banned.
The way Misbah and Afridi played at the end of innings is enough for me to believe that the match was indeed fixed.