New Delhi: Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has said low payments by the cricket board tempted cricketers into fixing matches.
“Fixing happens in our culture because there`s less money, there are even lesser opportunities. Cricketers victimised by their boards return (to the team) to mint money,” he said.
“In 2008, I had no money to even buy a car. I had to borrow money from a friend. I handled it, others go astray,” Akhtar, 37, told the Headlines Today news channel.
He said: “Your friends ditch you, (the cricket) board doesn`t back you. They all run you down. So when you return you think `let me teach them a lesson`. Some are corrupt, but some cricketers are turned into criminals by the system.
“We (in Pakistan) don`t have much money in cricket. I wasn`t playing for India you know. I was an elite star, still after playing for 14 years I only made seven-eight crore rupees (USD 1.35-1.54 million),” The News quoted Akhtar, as saying.
ANI
First Published: Saturday, October 06, 2012, 11:32