NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – The spot-fixing scandal which has marred Pakistan’s tour of England has tarnished cricket’s image and tough decisions need to be made if necessary, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said in an interview.
“Match-fixing or spot-fixing brings disrepute to the game,” Dhoni told NDTV news channel, reacting to the controversy that caused the International Cricket Council (ICC) to provisionally suspend three Pakistan players following an investigation into a newspaper report they had manipulated incidents in the fourth test.
“It does not restrict only to the people who are doing it or the side they belong to. I think people start associating it with the whole fraternity which means all the cricketers,” Dhoni said in the interview to be aired later yesterday.
Pakistan test captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif were suspended last week following the allegations in Britain’s News of the World newspaper.
Asked if he was advocating strong punishment if any players are found guilty, Dhoni said: “Definitely, harsh decisions need to be taken.”
