My career ended prematurely because I spoke against fixing: Aaqib Javed
Aaqib Javed, the former Pakistani right arm fast bowler has claimed that people involved in match fixing are linked with India as well. In an interview to Geo News, a Pakistani based News Channel, Javed said that questions were raised on the Indian Premier League as well, but no one has had the courage to do anything against the mafia, who run the business while sauntering behind the scenes.
The 1992 World Cup winning fast bowler had the following to say about the issue of India being the den for fixing.
“I’m surprised that a country such as India which is so established in cricket, is the main link for match fixing.”
“Questions have been raised over IPL in the past as well and the den of this match fixing mafia is India. There is no way out once you decide to get yourself into it. Nobody has the courage to take any sort of action against the mafia yet,” he added.
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Javed, who took 182 wickets in 163 One Day Internationals, also accused former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram of keeping him out of the cricket team, as he declined offers to fix matches. He also said that he received death threats if he spoke on the issue when there were allegations against former Pakistan captain Saleem Malik. The former pacer also alleged that he was being threatened to be ‘ripped into pieces’ if he continued to speak regarding the issue.
“My career ended prematurely because I spoke against fixing. I was being threatened that I would be ripped to pieces” he said in a separate interview to The Dawn.
Javed, who is currently coaching Pakistan Super League franchise Lahore Qalandars’ claimed that he never got the opportunity to become head coach of the Pakistan cricket team as he spoke against match fixing on many occasions.
“If you are vocal against fixing then you can only go to a certain extent in your career. This is why I was not able to become the head coach of Pakistan.” he said.