Former batsman Hasan Raza voices concern over Ajman All Stars League

Hasan Raza

Test batsman Hasan Raza has voiced his concern over the suspicious activities during the T20 festival cricket event in Ajman last month which is now under investigation from the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption Unit. Hasan told PTI on telephone that he was shocked like Salman Butt at the way the Ajman All Stars League was conducted.

"We got invitations to play in the league for a respectable fee and we were told it would be a festive sort of event. But I gathered some concern after the first match and in the second match It was clear something was not right over the manner in which some dismissals took place," he said. Hasan, who holds the record of being the youngest Test cricketer for Pakistan and internationally, said he was told by some young players before the second match that some people had told them to throw their wickets and do some other things. "I told them to ignore the people and just play your natural game," he said.

Hasan made it clear no one had approached him with any fixing offer or he would have reported it first thing to the authorities. The ICC has said that it had found enough evidence to suggest all was not well in the All Stars League, It, however, said that it could not do anything as the event was not a sanctioned one and did not come under any affiliated unit. Earlier, Salman Butt, who has served a five-year ban for spot-fixing, had said he was happy the ICC was investigating the event in Ajman as he found the whole event to be a shabby one with no match referees, scorers or ICC presence.

Interestingly, Pakistan's forgotten wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider said last month that during a private event in Dubai he was told by some people to get out deliberately and concede runs but he refused. A few years back, Haider had deserted the Pakistan team during a series against South Africa and fled to London from Dubai seeking political asylum after he claimed that he was given death threats during the one-day series by some bookmakers for not carrying out their instructions.

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