Pakistan's banned pacer Muhammad Asif believes the PCB did not do enough to save him and two other banned players -- Salman Butt and Muhammad Aamir -- from the punishment handed down to them for spot-fixing by the ICC's anti-corruption tribunal.
"I am not blaming the PCB for what happened but certainly they and even the government could have done more to save us from such a long ban," Asif said on 'Geo TV'. "If the Board wanted, they could have stepped in when the spot fixing scandal broke out and handled things themselves.
They should have sent us home immediately and then tried us themselves instead of allowing the ICC to take charge," Asif said. He also felt that the Pakistan government did not play a pro-active in dealing with the whole issue. "I know there are regulations and other things that could have been used by the government to fly us back to Pakistan and then have us face the music at home instead of being left at the mercy of the ICC tribunal," he said.
Throughout the show, Asif, 28, who took 106 wickets in 23 Tests, kept hinting he hsould not have been punished. The three Pakistani players were banned for a minimum of five years by the ICC tribunal last February on charges of spot-fixing during the fourth Test against England at Lord's last year. The ICC suspended the trio few days after the defunct 'News of the World' tabloid broke the story about the trio being involved with their Pakistani agent Mazhar Majeed in fixing issues during the series.
{{/usCountry}}Throughout the show, Asif, 28, who took 106 wickets in 23 Tests, kept hinting he hsould not have been punished. The three Pakistani players were banned for a minimum of five years by the ICC tribunal last February on charges of spot-fixing during the fourth Test against England at Lord's last year. The ICC suspended the trio few days after the defunct 'News of the World' tabloid broke the story about the trio being involved with their Pakistani agent Mazhar Majeed in fixing issues during the series.
{{/usCountry}}