6 Pakistan players who were involved in scandals but also in their World Cup squads

An athlete life is always on a check. Every now and then there will be a lot of reason for people to peep into their lives. What if the player gets accused of an unethical act or not abiding by the set rules? He will be termed as a cocky player and an unruly person. Pakistan cricket was dogged by such scenarios where cricketers were looked down upon. There were situations when the cricketing fraternity kept them away and finally a few of Pakistan players had to retire from their career.

Corruption and unethical acts by the Pakistan players are perpetual. The Pakistan players have been under the scanner for their perpetrating deeds for more than 2 decades now. Actually, it’s not only Pak cricketers but in every country corruption and other wrongdoings happen. But most of Pakistan players have hogged the limelight for all the wrong reasons. You name any player, there will be some issue they have got involved in.

One can find a handful of cricketers, who came out clean without any dirt to their hands. If you remember a famous dialogue from Shah Rukh Khan’s film, ‘haar kar jeetne walon lo baazigar kehte hein (a person who loses to win is called baazigar)’. So there are a lot of baazigars in Pakistan.

An athlete career can be in doldrums when they are under scanner for all wrong reasons such as getting banned or suspended. If one can enlist such Pakistan cricketers, a roll of paper wouldn’t be sufficient to accommodate for sealing their careers with black marks. Despite having a huge list here are the renowned six Pakistan players who got into bad shape for being scandalized but rose up to make the World Cup squads.

1. Mohammad Amir (World Cup 2019)

Mohammad Amir‘s contribution to Pakistan may be little but with his help, the term ‘spot-fixing was added to the cricket vocabulary. When Pakistan toured England in 2010, the 18-year-old Amir wouldn’t have thought in his wildest dreams that his future so going to push into the darkness by the then skipper Salman Butt and senior player Mohammad Asif.

The Pak quick intentionally bowled no-balls as instructed by the skipper. A year after, he was slapped 5-year ban as he had to accept for the corrupt payment. The Pakistan colt was imprisoned for 6-month. After that, he didn’t hold the ball for the next four and a half years. In 2015 after the completion of his 5 years ban, he makes his way back to the 22-yard pitch and nearly 140-yard ground. After returning, he kept his focus on his game and went on trap stalwart of the game. Hence he seals a spot in the World Cup 2019.

Leading to the mega event Pakistan lost 10 of their 11 One Day International matches of which 1 was washed out due to heavy downpour. Pakistan cricket has been in a serious crisis for quite some time now. But, Amir leading the pace pack, took three wickets against Windies on Friday but only in a losing cause. He last picked up wickets only two years ago in 2017 Champions Trophy.

2. Nasir Jamshed (World Cup 2015)

Nasir Jamshed of Pakistan. (Photo by Richard Huggard/Gallo Images)

The southpaw was one of the biggest assets for the Pakistan team as he played 45 one-dayers in which he smacked 8 half-tons and 3 centuries. But all these were till he was ceased to play cricket for being accused of bribery during Pakistan Super League. In February 2017, Nasir Jamshed was suspended and after 8 months he was banned by PCB for 1 year.

His days were going bad to worse as an independent anti-corruption tribunal has banned him for further 10 years in August 2018. But just after six months in February 2019 only he took a tight sigh after not pleading guilty for the bribery-related issues in the PSL.

Cut to 2015, Jamshed made the 15-man squad who had travelled to Australia to play World Cup 2015. His World Cup outing was disastrous and the numbers are paltry. In 2015, he played three matches and could score only 5 runs. Pakistan had to return after slumping to Australia in quarterfinals.

3. Mohammad Irfan (World Cup 2015)

Towering 7.1 ft, Mohammad Irfan was shortened by his fate. Featuring in the 2015 World Cup, he played 5 of 7 matches and scalped 8 wickets with the best figures reading 4/30 on the Australian soil. Well, for the Pak bouncer specialist, the ending was not too happy. After returning home, he was playing for the Pakistan Super League team Islamabad United in 2017.

In a suspicious act, he was observed behaving unusually. Later when the investigation asked for an approach, he turned his back due to which he had to face one-year suspension in March 2017. Other than suspension, he was fined PKR 1 million. But after the suspension, he has again started playing various other premier league’s worldwide.

4. Shahid Afridi (WC 1999-2011)

Shahid Afridi, nicknamed boom boom, one of the familiar figure in the Pakistan cricket history. Afridi has been a tremendous force for Pakistan since he was 16-year-old. Afridi was one of the best all-rounders Pakistan has ever produced. He has a lot of records to his name. Playing nearly 400 matches he had smacked nearly 350 sixes and he stands atop in the chart of most number of maximums in one-dayers.

Shahid Afridi has featured in 5 World Cup events and he been tremendous for Pakistan. He picked 30 wickets best being 5/16 and swung his blade to score 325 runs in 27 matches. His numbers don’t lie but so does the cameras. So once, Afridi was caught red-handed while biting into the ball in efforts to tamper the ball. He was graced well as he got away with a meagre punishment. He was banned for only 2 T20 international matches. When asked about the scandal, he explained his love towards the ball, “I was trying to smell the ball.”

5. Shoaib Akhtar (World Cup 1999-2011)

The Rawalpindi Express as he is called, is still the fastest bowler under the sun. He recorded the fastest ball delivered in 2003 of around 161 kmph. But he was banned for 5 years in the slag of his career as he retired from the sport after World Cup 2011. Shoaib Akhtar, one of the nightmarish bowlers for many cricketers, he has been the central figure for Pakistan in 4 World Cup tournaments spanning 12 years. He played 19 world cup matches with 30 wickets in his kitty as 4/46 being his best.

Shoaib Akhtar was charged for publicly criticising Pakistan Cricket Board and was handed a 5-year ban in 2007. His career has been in a topsy-turvy condition when he even started as he failed a dope test once and later he was mostly criticised for being outrightly rough opinionated. Currently, he shrugged off everything happened to him in the past and is expert for most of the tournaments happening worldwide.

6. Waqar Younis (World Cup 1996-2003)

One of the prolific pacer in the Pakistan team’s history and his trademark was reverse swing the ball. At some point in time, Waqar Younis was the torchbearer for the Pakistan cricket team. He was the World Cup winner, he became coach of the national team and he was also handed ban for breaching rules by tampering ball.

Waqar started his ODI career in 1989 and his tenure of 14 years with the national team was a roller-coaster ride as he mentioned in one of the interviews with a Pakistan TV channel after his retirement. He played cricket for a good 11 years but in the year 2000, he had a conflict with the then captain Wasim Akram and was ousted from the team. Later that year he was back in the Pakistan camp as a captain.

But, the bad time continued troubling him as he was handed ban to take part in one international match and was fined 50 per cent of the match fee for ball-tampering. He was the first player to be banned for ball-tampering issues. And later the right-arm-quick was stripped of the captaincy position. In 2003 World Cup, he was again tangled with controversies for bowling beamer to Australia’s Andrew Symonds. He was sent off the field being the first bowler to be disciplined in such a way.

Again in 2006, he was back to the team as a bowling coach and later he became the head coach for the national team. Despite having a lot of talent he couldn’t enjoy the success because of the charges he had to face for the wrongdoings.

There were other Pakistan players who made the World Cup squads but were slapped with bans for being miscreants on the field in likes of Danish Kaneria, Aamer Sohail, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Asif and the list goes on in quintals. These players despite having talent in abundance couldn’t enjoy the success and never can they be called cricket stalwarts because of their bad temper and on-field behaviour. Thus, the Pakistan team has been in shambles for the last 25 years.

Nonetheless, everyone has good and bad. So, ever wondered, what would have gone through the player’s mind? Living in an era where people attempt suicides for the smallest of things, imagine how mentally strong a player should be to bounce back to their winning ways. It takes a lot of perseverance and self-belief to break the societal boundaries and prove one’s prowess where they had once skid.