Since the suspension of Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif, I have been flooded with emails and messages asking about my opinions on the latest spot-fixing scandal.

Some of the questions that have been asked: Why did the cricketers engage in spot-fixing activities?  Why did the PCB not have appropriate measures in place?  Why is it that only Pakistani crickets get involved and caught in spot-fixing?

I like many others do not have answers to these questions.  But I must confess one thing, I was not surprised to see such a scandal rocking Pakistan cricket again.  For some reason, I had a strong gut feeling that the spot-fixing fiasco of 2010 would repeat itself again in the future.

Below are my thoughts as to why the events happened, and more worryingly, why they may happen again in the future:

The questionable role of the PCB

Many media pundits, journalists and current players have lauded PCB’s role in handling of the current situation.  There is a strong belief and perception that the PCB is setting a strong example for zero-tolerance on spot-fixing.

However, I strongly disagree with this view.  In any commercial or sporting organization, the failure of its employees must lie with the management, and moreover the policies and procedures it has in place.  I feel that the PCB smartly executed the exit of the concerned players from Dubai and shied away from the responsibility of taking ownership of what may have caused these events.

One must seriously question and ask the PCB management that why it didn’t have enough sanctions on the PSL players to meet unknown strangers in the lobby of hotels, why there wasn’t more stringent monitoring of pre-match phone message exchanges before actual spot-fixing incidents took place, and lastly, why didn’t the PCB learn from its mistakes of 2010 to avoid an exact repeat scenario.

Very recently I visited the National Stadium in Karachi to watch a high profile domestic game.  I agree that the game was no way near the same scale to that of a PSL or international fixture, but I was amazed to see a completely unguarded pavilion door which almost allowed any spectator like myself to walk into the dressing room.  I also sadly saw many players in the pavilion casually using their phones.

There is also another theory regarding the inactive role of the PCB.  Some sources have claimed that it wasn’t the PCB who uncovered the latest spot-fixing scandal, but actually the ICC themselves who in Dubai were also closely monitoring the situation.  The PCB was thus left with no choice but to take the chosen stance and action – and in the process falsely glorifying itself in driving corruption out of Pakistan cricket.  This theory shouldn’t be discarded, after all, what incentive was there for the PCB management to tarnish its main showcase event in controversy.

The setup of a tribunal

It has now been over 45 days since Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif were sent home from the PSL, and yet there has been no formal sanction or action imposed.  This again is not surprising given the history of the PCB with similar past incidents.  It is famously said that when one doesn’t want to make a decision, they setup a committee or tribunal.

The same can be said about the current spot-fixing scandal.  We have already seen many times in the past that the PCB committees have been weak and ineffective at pushing bans from the cases of Shoaib Akhtar and Muhammad Asif drug scandal to more worryingly upholding the recommendations of the Qayyum report in the first public wave of match fixing.  It must also be remembered that the PCB did nothing to impose a stricter penalty on the offenders of 2010, which were largely imposed by the ICC.

The case of Sharjeel Khan will be the most complicated. He out of all the players involved is the most promising and upcoming, both in terms of talent and performances.  It may well be the case that the PCB smartly maneuvers his case so that he is available for selection again shortly.  If this turns out to be the case, again one shouldn’t be surprised.

Rewinding back to 2010

Lastly, a lot has been said about the fact that the return of the 2010 offenders has not served as a strong enough deterrent.

Again, I feel it has been rather unfair to point blame at the relatively soft treatment of Mohammad Amir, which apparently gave further encouragement to this latest generation of cricketers.  I guess the question to ask is that would these players have engaged in spot-fixing had Mohammad Amir not made a comeback.  I guess that the answer is not that straightforward, and in reality, would even the current incident deter future spot-fixing activities?  My guess in all honesty is no.  The cash rich nature of the game today is such that players will always be enticed by greed no matter how severe punishments become, especially if the administrators are weak.

The responsibility must lie with the administrators to ensure that a disciplined environment prevails.  It is often easy for any organization to blame its employees, but ultimately the accountability and responsibility must remain with the management.

As often is the case with Pakistan cricket, it will be interesting to see how the coming weeks play out.  Will we see the PCB finally taking some bold definite steps, or on the other extreme will we be talking about the return of Sharjeel Khan and Salman Butt in a few months.  My prediction is with the latter…