DURBAN, (Reuters) – Cricketers must take more responsibility for their actions to prevent the spread of corruption, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said yesterday.
He was speaking in the light of the suspension last week of Pakistan players Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif following spot-fixing allegations levelled against them in Britain’s News of the World newspaper.
“It is crucial to keep the game clean,” Dhoni told a news conference in Durban.
“Personally I think it is up to the individual. You don’t need someone to guide you or restrict you. If you are playing for, or representing, your country you should feel pride in doing that.”
In the wake of the allegations against the Pakistan trio the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) has come under fire for not doing enough to prevent the spread of corruption in cricket.
But Dhoni, who is in South Africa with the Chennai Super Kings to play in the Champions League Twenty20 which starts on Friday, believes that the ACSU is doing a decent job.
“As far as the corruption unit and their functioning are concerned I think that they are doing a good job,” he said, adding that if the ACSU was given more power it could infringe on players’ human rights.
“I think that if they (ACSU) become stricter they will start intruding on the privacy of players.”
