Saturday, Feb. 5, at Doha the ICC tribunal surmised that it had enough evidence to pronounce its guilty verdict on Pakistans tainted trio. Despite the ICC pushing for the maximum sentence, which would have meant life bans, Amir has been handed the minimum punishment of a five-year ban, Asif has gone for seven years and Salman for 10. The players have the right to appeal in the IOCs Court of Arbitration but there, history suggests, the hope of a reprieve is scant. And in the absence of that amongst the three, all of 19 only Amir can have a realistic hope of again featuring in international cricket.
There was a curious happening just a day prior to this anticipated judgment, Englands Crown Prosecution Service chose to indict the three Pakistani cricketers and their agent Mazhar Majeed. Simon Clements, Head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said, there was sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction. More than anything, the timing of the CPS formally charging the players was strange. Whether it was the CPS intent or not, the players were rightfully aggrieved because it unambiguously alluded to Englands prosecutors having confidence that it had a good enough case to win a guilty verdict. And it would remain a point of conjecture whether the ICC tribunal was influenced by CPS timing. While the criminal proceedings may collapse, and there have been such instances, the ICC tribunals decree is of immediate import.
After the drop scene in Doha, Pakistan cricket should now seek closure by leaving this painful chapter behind and move on. Match-fixing and spot-fixing are not the exclusive preserve of the Pakistani cricketers. Yet the perception about our boys worldwide is most abysmal. And it is because the PCB has singularly failed in managing its affairs in an efficient, aboveboard and conscientious manner, which has resulted in its failure over the last two decades to keep its cricketers on the straight and narrow. In that sense the verdict is as much against the PCB as it is against the players. But there is hope. Already some moves have been made, albeit under the ICCs unyielding diktat, with the aim to reform our most horrible management of the game. Though still not every action is beyond reproach, the results are fast improving.
Despite being seriously depleted, this Pakistan squad held its own against South Africa and has now won both the Test and one-day rubbers in New Zealand. And this upswing has come about because combinations in the current team have the requisite skill-set to compete and excel at the global level. And that is why most credible analysts are now rating Pakistans prospects rather highly for the forthcoming World Cup. We need to religiously stick to this policy of reform until the PCB is a model of meritocracy. Until that happens, Pakistan cricket will remain engulfed in bouts of scandal and ignominy.