Match-fixing rocks cricket again

Police in Bangladesh have arrested a Pakistani man on suspicion of spot-fixing during a key match in the country’s inaugural Twenty20 cricket league, officials said Monday.
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials challenged Sajid Khan Sunday as he was frantically making phone calls from the stands during the crucial phases of a Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) encounter, the BCB security chief told AFP. “We have handed him over to police for interrogation,” Mesbahuddin Serniabat said, adding Khan had been under the BCB’s watch for days.
“We have reasons to suspect that he was involved in spot-fixing,” he added, saying that an anti-corruption official from the International Cricket Council had also spoken to the man.
“On Sunday Khan called after the toss and every time a key wicket fell and a six was hit. He also tried to sneak into the dressing room and some restricted areas where only players and team staff are allowed.”
Serniabat said Khan, 36, was detained during the Chittagong Kings versus Barisal Burners match, which the latter won to seal a place in the semi-finals.
A court in the Bangladeshi capital remanded him into custody for two days on Monday, Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka police M. Asaduzzaman told AFP.
The BPL, the cricket-mad South Asian nation’s first Twenty20 league, opened on February 9 on a sour note after former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza revealed that he had received a spot-fixing proposition.
Mortaza said he had been approached by an unnamed player regarding potential spot-fixing with the Dhaka Gladiators, which he captains.
The BCB security chief said the authorities have seized Khan’s mobile in which they found a text message containing the bank account number for a Pakistani player who had been quizzed by the ICC anti-corruption official.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy towards fixing. We hope police will make a thorough investigation into the case,” he told AFP.
The latest incident came after three Pakistani Test stars — Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammed Aamer — were jailed in England last year after being found guilty of spot-fixing charges.
The BPL has proved to be a magnet for former Pakistani national cricketers and fringe players with 17 of them playing for the tournament’s six teams.