During Pakistan’s cricket tour of England earlier this year, seven players were accused of match fixing by the British tabloid newspaper News of the World. On the third day of the fourth test, the paper published an article stating that Mazhar Majeed had accepted a £150,000 bribe from an undercover reporter. In return Majeed confirmed that two Pakistani bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir would deliberately deliver no balls at specific points during the match. Mazhar Majeed is a cricket agent who is now under police investigation at Scotland Yard.

The Pakistani Cricket team are no strangers to allegations surrounding corruption within in the game. Back in 2006, during the fourth Test against England at the Oval on 20 August, ball tampering accusations were made against the Pakistani team, which resulted in the team forfeiting the match. On the fourth day of the Test, during England's second innings the ball began to bounce differently when Umar Gul bowled. This caused Alastair Cook to be dismissed by an LBW. Four overs later, umpire Darrell Hair decided that the ball had been tampered with by the Pakistani bowler. He then gave England five runs and as the Pakistan team believed they had done no wrong, they left the field of play until the decision was reversed. However the decision wasn’t changed and so England were controversially awarded the win of the fourth test.

It’s not just England cricket fans that are upset with these occurrences. The Pakistani people see cricket as more of a religion than a sport and there have been violent riots in the streets of Pakistan. I imagine the Pakistani public are disgusted at the events that have taken place as it’s not the first time they have been let down by their so called idol’s.

The future of Pakistani cricket now looks in serious doubt as the International Cricket Council is considering whether to suspend the nation from playing international cricket. Other nations including England would surely be thinking twice about playing in any matches against Pakistan if a ban is not put in place.