Islamabad: Batting legend Javed Miandad, reacting to the three-year ban imposed on Umar Akmal for violating the match-fixing code, said he had earlier warned the Lahore-born cricketer to mend his ways, but he paid no heed to his advice.
“Umar is a very talented cricketer and Allah gave him everything. I warned Umar earlier but he did not mend his ways and now he’s banned for three years. I sensed this thing before,” he said on his YouTube channel.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday banned Umar Akmal from all forms of cricket for not reporting a match-fixing offer, a crime under the board’s anti-corruption code.
“Why didn’t you [Umar] report it before. If you had reported such incident before then the result might have been different,” he said.
Miandad, who scored 8,832 runs in 124 Tests, also advised the up and coming cricketers to stay away from any wrongdoings as the International Cricket Council (ICC) has clear rules in place for such incidents. “Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) must strictly tell players of the trouble they can get themselves into, for any wrong practices,” he said. Miandad, who coached the Pakistan team on separate occasions in 1998, 2000 and 2003, urged players to play honourably and honestly for the country. “Players must remember that what they are today is just because of Pakistan,” he said.
