You are here: Home > Opinion > Khalid-O-Scope > Majeed was with Pak players on the tour to Australia as well

Investigations by The Australian newspaper reveal that alleged match-fixer Majeed was with the pakistan players during the Australia tour and was allowed access to their hotel rooms

The revelations by a London newspaper concerning the disgraceful conduct of the Pakistani cricket team  have  caused seismic shocks across the world to Australia.

Investigations by an Australian newspaper have led to the disclosure that Mazhar Majeed,  the alleged match-fixer at the centre of the Lord's betting scandal, was in  Sydney with the visiting Pakistan side during last year's controversial Sydney Test.

Remember this four-play? Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal looks dejected after dropping Peter Siddle during Day Four of the Sydney Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January. Akmal dropped four catches in that match which alleged match-fixer Mazhar Majeed claims was fixed. Pic/Getty Images

That match, which now looks to have been tainted by outright cheating, saw some curious batting and bowling performances by the Pakistanis, including  ultra-defensive field placements by then captain Mohammed Yousuf and four elementary dropped catches by wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal, which enabled Australia to draw the Test after a 200-run first innings deficit.

Investigations by The Australian newspaper have revealed that Majeed was with the players during the tour and was allowed access to their  hotel rooms.

Familiarity
Majeed and his brother Azhar Majeed are said to be closely involved with the Pakistani players and claim to represent Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq, present captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi. Kamran Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq and others.

Former Australian captain Richie Benaud said that in his 52 years of being involved in cricket, "nothing has  distressed me more" than yesterday's revelations.

SUNDAY MID DAY columnist and former Australian captain Ian Chappell, who has been actively raising money for Pakistan flood relief, said he knew corruption was rife throughout cricket. He slammed the International Cricket Council and  asked what the game's governing body and its anti-corruption body had been doing.

"In some ways, I am glad it's come out, because it's got to be fixed," he said.

Majeed reportedly boasted to London's News of the World newspaper that he had made more than a million dollars on the Sydney Test. 

"The odds for Pakistan to lose that match for Australia were, I think, 40-1. We  let them get up to 150 then everyone lost their wickets."

The pieces have now fallen in place for me because, having covered the match, I have always felt the result of that Sydney Test was fishy.

Pakistani coach Intikhab Alam, who dined with me, some senior Pakistani journalists and friends after the match, also, was at a loss for words in assessing Pakistani's inexplicable performance in the Test.