For any dead-enders hoping that at least Mohammed Amir would be spared, the final judgment must have come when the pacer appeared at his ICC tribunal hearing wearing a T-shirt calling for the legalization of marijuana. No one who was innocent, or at the very least had decent legal representation, would have shown up in quite so flagrant attire.
In the end, Amir should consider himself lucky. For his corruption - and let’s be honest bowling no-balls because a bookie wants you to is corruption so bad even our politicians would have second thoughts before indulging in it - he only received a five-year ban. That’s the minimum punishment he could have received under the guidelines set by the ICC. If Amir, unlike most Pakistani cricketers, has reported his correct age he will still be in his early twenties when he makes a triumphant comeback in 2016.
For Salman Butt and Mohammed Asif, though, the penalty is far more stiff. Butt, the skipper who impressed so many with his silver tongue, has been given a 10-year ban, out of which five years will be suspended. Asif’s seven-year ban has a two-year suspended sentence. Given both behave with dignity during their enforced absence, they too could be back at the same time as Amir.
However, now that they have muddied the already soiled name of Pakistani cricket, it would be better if Butt and Asif never represent the country again. Having them wear the green shirts again would be a visceral reminder of how they let us down; how they sold out the team at a time when we were at such a low ebb that no foreign country in their right mind would set foot on our soil. There are no players who have done more to eviscerate the faith of fans in their national team as much as Salman Butt, Mohammed Amir and Mohammed Asif.
As much as we want to, it is too easy to blame just three cricketers for a national cricketing malaise. Thanks to the undercover reporting of The News of the World, we know the painful details of how they sold themselves and their country down a muddy river. But, if we are true to ourselves, we will also acknowledge that they only emulated their heroes.
We may be loath to admit it, but the Pakistani cricket team of the 1990s was rotten to the core. This is no smoking gun but the Qayyum Report and our gut instinct tells us that the heroes we revered were just as willing to turn a profit at the expense of their performance on the pitch. In his exhaustive report on the match-fixing saga, Justice Qayyum recommended that Wasim Akram never be made captain of Pakistan. In a more reflective moment, the judge admitted that the suggestion was overly lenient because of his respect for Akram and his exploits on the pitch.
Such lenience was extended not just to Akram but just about every cricketer who represented Pakistan in that era. Had we given them the appropriate punishment, perhaps the cricketers of today would have learned the painful lesson that corruption has consequences.
In such hard times, it is only natural to look for silver linings. And this verdict, despite the grief and pain it may cause us right now, is a blessing that has disguised itself ingeniously. Given the raw talent in Pakistan, it won’t be surprising if we discover a fast-bowling talent like Mohammed Amir soon. But the raw teenager we thrust into international cricket will know that the promise of a large one-time payment is not worth throwing his career over for. For that we have the harshness of the ICC tribunal to thank.
Nadir Hassan is a journalist based in Karachi and can be found on Twitter.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
