KARACHI: Former Test captain Zaheer Abbas described the anti-corruption tribunal's decision to hand lengthy bans to Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir as a stigma on Pakistan cricket but added that it was always on the card once the spot-fixing saga surfaced during the Lord's Test in England last year.

Salman, who was the leading the team, was handed a 10-year ban while pacemen Asif was banned for seven years and Amir for five years for their role in the scam.

Zaheer told Dawn that the verdict announced by tribunal chief Michael Beloff after a  nine-hour hearing at the Qatar Financial Centre in Doha, was not unexpected.

“This is a very sad day for Pakistan cricket because it involves three big players and it has come at a time when the World Cup is just round the corner and everyone is focusing on the mega event. But having said that, I think this [decision] should be a big lesson for all other players. They should refrain from indulging in such activities or face the consequences like the three cricketers have,” Zaheer said.

“The punishments handed out in Doha effectively means the cricket careers of Salman, Asif and Amir are finished. I feel that we should focus on the future and educate our players to avoid getting involved with unscrupulous people.

Zaheer feared that the tainted trio could land in more trouble when they appear in a London court next month after being charged on Friday by Crown Prosecution Service for bribery.

“I don't know what will happen to them when they go there for the hearing on March 17. I fear they could get themselves in more problems because that is a criminal case,” he remarked.

Zaheer expressed that the loss of Amir would hurt Pakistan since the young left-arm speedster was developing into a world-class performer.

“Yeah, Amir is the biggest loss since the Pakistan Cricket Board had invested a lot on his development as the main strike weapon for the national side,” Zaheer noted. “We will also miss the other two, but Amir, being young, had a lot of years still left to play international cricket and many of us had labelled him as the new Wasim Akram. What a shame.”

When asked what impact the tribunal decision has on Pakistan cricket, Zaheer said that it would serve as any eye opener for all people here. “But I think had the cricket board banned some of the players instead of only imposing fines on them during the match-fixing case in 2000, what we have just gone through now wouldn't have taken place in the first instance.”

Cricket writer and broadcaster Qamar Ahmed, who was covering the Pakistan tour to England where the three players were accused of spot-fixing after a sting operation by a Sunday paper News of the World , was not surprised at the punishment handed over to the tainted trio.

“The decision to ban the three Pakistan players has not come as a huge surprise to me. From the day the newspaper made allegations against them I always had this sickening feeling that this whole controversy may end in disaster for the players, Qamar, who is also a Dawn columnist, said.

“Had the PCB and its officials been vigilant and lot more careful about the movement of some of the players already suspected from the Sydney Test disaster to the tour of England, this could have been avoided.

“This historic decision by the ICC is to set an example to others who may in the future not even think of getting themselves involved in dicey deals and with suspicious people.

“The door of course is open for the players to appeal and seek justice from the Court of Arbitration for Sports if they feel they have been harshly punished,” he concluded.