Asia Cup 2018: Afghanistan’s Mohammad Shahzad Allegedly Approached for Spot-Fixing; Wicket-Keeper Batsman Reports it to the Team Management

The spot-fixing scandal just refuses to die. The latest name to be approached by the bookies is Afghanistan’s, Mohammad Shahzad. The wicket-keeper batsman was approached by the bookies during the Asia Cup 2018 to underperform in the inaugural season of Afghan Premier League. Shahzad will feature in the team Paktia which will also feature cricketers like Chris Gayle, Shahid Afridi and Brendon McCullum and league will kick start from October 5 to 23, 2018.  The wicket-keeper batsman reported about being approached to the team management.  Asia Cup 2018 Schedule in PDF for Free Download: Timetable With List of All Matches in IST Including India vs Pakistan Fixture.

The matter was then forwarded to ICC’s anti-corruption unit. “There was an approach made during the Asia Cup, but for their [Afghanistan's] own T20 league," an ICC official said. "The matter was reported through the right channels on Saturday and is being looked into by the anti-corruption unit."

During the media day at the ICC headquarters in Dubai, the head of the anti-corruption unit Alex Marshal said that the corruptors love captains and are always in a hunt for weak links in the team. He also went on to reveal that bookies had approached five captains in the last one year. The ICC Anti-Corruption Unit had conducted 32 investigations and out of those, 23 originated from the participants’ report. The cricketing unit also conducted three sting operations.  Asia Cup 2018 Leading Run-Scorers: List of Batsmen With Most Runs in Asian Cricket Tournament.

“There have been 32 investigations in the last 12 months, eight involve players as suspects," Marshall said at the ICC's headquarters here. Five of them involve administrators or non-playing personnel. Three of these individuals have been charged. Five international captains have also reported receiving approaches to spot-fix,” explained Alex Marshal.

He also emphasized the need for working closely with the boards to prevent corruption. Also, educating players about how the bookies could influence the newly formed T20 leagues could be another way to prevent corruptions.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 25, 2018 09:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).