LAHORE – The Pakistan cricket team will win the battle if Prime Minister (PM) Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani ‘stays’ at Mohali Cricket Stadium to see the match, predicted a bookie while talking to Pakistan Today on Tuesday. “It is a zero-sum game and multiple factors including politics, gambling and sponsoring companies will manoeuvre the game result,” he added.
As per details until filing of this report, bookies of Lahore have already declared the Indian cricket team favourite winners of the semi-final. According to a bookmaker, there are 70 percent chances that India will win the semis after a good fight. According to bookmakers, thousands of Lahoris have bet between Rs 40 to 50 billions on the match.
A bookmaker said people want to multiply their money out of a crucial game, which was quite even. A bookmaker said the game could be looked at in a political sense as the international media has pointed a few Pakistani politicians’ involvement in fixing matches. He predicted that if the PM stayed until the match’s end then Pakistan would win, the logic being that if Gilani was sitting in the ground and his team lost, then his popularity would decrease.
He quoted an example of Pakistan and India’s hockey match in India, where Indian PM Indira Gandhi was in the ground for prize distribution but she had left the ground by the time the Pakistani team had scored a third goal against India. He said that the Pakistani went on to win the match by six goals. He said Gillani’s movements would be important to notice. He said bookies would also influence the match considering the billions of rupees bet on India. He said an India win would spell trillions in losses to bookies.
He said Indian bookies stand to lose more if Pakistan wins since Indian bookies would have to pay huge amounts to Pakistani bookies. He claimed Indian bookies paid huge amounts when Pakistani bookies influenced Lahore Badshahs to lose second final match in Indian Cricket League. He said spot fixing had a higher probability than match fixing.
However, he said that this factor was likely not to dominate. He said that the event sponsors also played a part in influencing the match result. Bookmakers explain rates that if one places Rs 1000 on India and India wins, the person will win Rs 600 but if anyone places Rs 1000 on Pakistan and Pakistan win then the person will wins Rs 1500.
Monitor Gilani for clues to match result: bookie
