Former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed has alleged that India is the den of match-fixing mafia in cricket. In an interview to a Pakistan-based news channel, Javed also claimed that fixing questions have been raised over the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the past but no one has the courage to do anything against the mafia, who runs the business while remaining in the background.
“Questions have been raised over IPL in the past. Match-fixing mafia is linked to India,” Javed told Geo News.
“There is no way out once you decide to get yourself into it (fixing). Nobody has the courage to take any sort of action against the mafia yet,” he added.
Javed had earlier accused Wasim Akram of keeping him out of Pakistan’s cricket team due to declining 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, he told another news channel, as quoted by Dawn.
The 47-year-old 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.
According to him, the reason why he could never become the head coach of the national team is that he spoke out in open.
“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).”
The right-arm pacer featured in 22 Tests and 163 One-Day Internationals for Pakistan, claiming 54 and 182 wickets respectively.
