PSL probe

The menace of corruption has once again raised its ugly head leaving the world of Pakistan cricket in turmoil. The Pakistan Super League (PSL) scandal with the duo of Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif at its centre has once again underlined the fact that where there is professional cricket, dirty money isn’t far behind. Things were looking set for the PSL, the fledgling Twenty20 league that was launched amid all the glamour and pomp last year. Its second edition was promising to be an even bigger and better affair something that seemed evident from an impressive opening ceremony in Dubai last Thursday. But less than 24 hours later, the PCB dropped a bombshell when it announced it was launching an investigation into an international syndicate believed to be attempting to corrupt the PSL. Sharjeel and Khalid, both representing defending champions Islamabad United, were provisionally suspended and sent back home; later three more players were questioned.

There are fears that corruption could already be widespread in the PSL, which is the latest addition to the growing list of professional T20 leagues. The scandal has revived memories of the 2010 spot-fixing scandal that rocked Pakistan cricket and resulted in three of the country’s leading players – Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif – getting slapped with lengthy bans. The trio were later sent to prison in Britain over criminal charges. It was hoped that the tough punishment meted out to the culprits would help deter future offenders. But it has now become clear that the cricket authorities will have to do much more than just handing punishment to culprits to protect the sport from fixing mafias. A league like the PSL, hosted in the UAE which has long been regarded as a major hub of illegal betting, will always be susceptible to becoming a victim of one international syndicate or the other. The PCB will have to find a way to bring the league to Pakistan. That is no doubt a mammoth task but the latest corruption scandal should force the PCB to fast forward its efforts to move the PSL to our own backyard. In the meantime, though, the onus is on the organisers of the league to not just come clean on the ongoing crisis but also to take concrete steps to make sure that the reputation of the PSL isn’t tarnished any further. After all, the PSL event is supposed to provide Pakistan cricket a much-needed boost. Instead, at the moment it seems to be proving rather an uphill task. This is certainly an unfortunate twist; for the sake of Pakistan cricket, the PSL needs to emerge unscathed from it.