How to get the focus back on cricket?
Let’s face it, fixing matches have been on for long but the only way the media and the ever-trusting public of the world will begin to forget the latest piece of fixing saga only if Pakistan wins the England ODI series. While, the 2009 T20 champions were left high and dry, losing to the Englishmen in a one-sided T20 clash on Tuesday, Shahid Afridi’s men have their task cut out in the one-dayers which begin shortly.
While many have been discussing spot-fixing, match-fixing in the past one week, the man in the centre of this scandal—Mazhar Majeed is the man whom all the media monikers want to trace and this alleged match-fixer has been absconding ever since he was released by the Metropolitan Police in London.
The sleepy Moonshi Mohallah of Faisalabad has gained a lot of prominence in the last 2 weeks as Mazhar’s roots are from this very place in Pakistan. The residents have been understandably shocked by the turn of the events as Mazhar’s father Abdul Majeed was highly respected in the neighbourhood. He migrated to England in 1962 after completing his Bachelors in Faisalabad. Abdul’s three children —one daughter and two sons Azhar and Mazhar — were born and raised in England. Members in the Pakistan side have known him as an agent and the alleged middleman has in the last ten years built up a reputation of being a successful businessman. He was in London circles as the owner of his local football club as well as a property developer who invited politicians and sports stars to his events. He and his young family live in a £1.8 million home, where neighbours said he would host barbecues for hundreds of guests. But hidden among his company directorships are thousands of pounds in unpaid bills and a string of firms that have closed down, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Majeed attended Coulsdon High school and studied business at Middlesex University before forming Bluesky Developments with a friend, Faisal Hameed, in 1999. In the next eight years, the developers were being commended by council officers and business leaders in Croydon, on the outskirts of London, for their developments and were raising money for charities. In 2007, Bluesky hosted a fund-raising event attended by leading cricketers such as the former Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq. The following year it sponsored a charity cricket match attended by the former England spinner Phil Tufnell. According to local newspaper reports, Bluesky was even then the sponsor of Salman Butt, now the Pakistani captain. But Bluesky began to lose money in the recession and was wound down.
Companies House records show it has five county court judgments for unpaid bills totalling £74,163 against it. Along with his brother Azhar, Mazhar claimed to represent the interests of a number of Pakistan’s top cricketers in the UK. While Majeed has literally put cricket in a fix, the only solution apart from banning the tainted players and if need be punishing the entire team too, would be to get along with the game and make a concerted effort to win matches.
Pakistan, at the moment, aren’t doing what they should be—win matches and that could change with the influx of some youngsters and experience in the form of Muhammad Irfan and Younis Khan. Irfan has been touted as the tallest cricketer, standing at 2.01m in his socks while Younis has been a good ambassador of the game.
A win for Pakistan in the first match against England at Chester-Le-Street will do two main things: 1. Give the media and Pakistan fans to talk of the game than about those who have tarnished it. 2. Shift the focus on cricket than on spot-fixing which has what been getting reported day in and day out. The game and the ones who play it have taken a beating in the last few weeks and a sound contest on the field could enliven the dying interest in the game.
Mr. Afridi, are you listening?
