THE nation was jolted by the verdict of the English court of law. Pakistan’s three ace cricketers were convicted in the spot-fixing scandal. The first question that arises in the reader’s mind is: whether the verdict was indeed just, paying heed to the fact that this is not the first time that the sport has come under fire due to match fixing.

Manoj Prabharkar and Ajay Sharma were prohibited from holding any office of the BCCI for five years for bringing the game into disrepute, but the incident hardly received any publicity.

There was evidence that Indian middle-order-batsman Suresh Raina was involved in such activities as well, but the matter was not probed into and the hatchet was buried instantly, thanks to Haroon Lorgat being at the helm of affairs.

South African cricket fell prey to this curse too with Captain Hansie Cronje, Herschelle Gibbs and Henry Williams being found guilty of match-fixing. Hansie Cronje was banned for life, a sentence he served till his tragic death in a plane crash in 2002.

Gibbs only served a six-month ban as he did not follow through on his end of the bargain, thus, being served a lesser sentence.

Australia was accused by Mazhar Majeed of harbouring the biggest fixers in the world, but was not labelled as “cheats” anywhere in the international media, and it is not surprising that investigating agencies could not find anything against any of the players, based on the investigation being ended prematurely.

Marlon Samuels of the West Indies was banned for two years for bringing the game into disrepute after it was proved that he received monetary benefits from Indian bookmakers. Similarly, Maurice Odumbe of Kenya only received a five-year ban for receiving money from bookmakers.

Seemingly, the so-called disease has wrapped itself around almost all cricketing nations of the world, but one cannot find a precedent of imprisonment in any of the sentences that were served over the span of a decade. The Pakistani cricketers have suffered enough for what they did. They have been publicly humiliated, fined and the imprisonment seems to be completely out of context. Thus, it should be waived off.

Our cricketers are not guinea pigs that new ‘inventions’ should be tested on them and an unprecedented example should be made out of them. It is also important to remember that they were involved in spot-fixing and not match-fixing; thus, the punishment must be within the margin of proportionality, something that is not the case and raises various questions that would surely not be answered anytime in the near future.

ZAIN WASEEM Karachi