Spot-fixer must be punished, says Hafeez

Terming spot-fixing in cricket as a crime, all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez Saturday said players proven guilty of corruption in cricket must be punished to the maximum so that one may think twice before committing such a felony. "Everyone can have their opinion but mine is quite strong on spot-fixing," Hafeez, said, adding: "It is a principled stance. It didn't change for any individual and neither will it. The stance is that whoever hurts the reputation of Pakistan and is proven guilty, he shouldn't get that respect back. It is that simple."
Talking to the members of Sports Journalists Association of Lahore (SJAL) here Saturday, Hafeez said the punishment for the guilty players must be enough to put fears in other players' minds. "It is high time that stern decision is taken about players who have been proven guilty to set an example for others. An example of sorts should be made so that everyone should fear doing anything like this ever again," he added.
Responding to query regarding corruption scandal in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), under which five players have already been suspended, he said, "It is a painful reality that we are facing now. I can't talk about it since anything has not been proven yet, but the occurrence of such a case within the confines of Pakistan cricket is painful."
Explaining further, Hafeez said that a person admitting to have committed spot-fixing but only by mistake is a liar. "Whoever plays for Pakistan is responsible to uphold the respect that he gets, on an individual level. And if someone tells me that it was a mistake, I don't consider it that, I will say he is lying, I think it's a crime," he opined.
Talking about upcoming tour of West Indies, Hafeez expressed optimism to show performance in this tour. Hafeez who made his way back into the ODI and T20I squad for the upcoming tour of the West Indies, said he passed the fitness level and regained confidence during the first playoff. "During the PSL, I struggled a lot with the bat and I was worried but I was delivering as a bowler," he said, adding: The selectors opt for a player after looking at the conditions and the requirements in the team. I hope to live up to the expectations of the selectors and will try my best to help the team."
When asked about declining performance of Pakistan cricket team in ODI format, Hafeez thinks inconsistency of our team has brought in current ICC ranking. "We thought a lot about it and we have had discussions on the matter," said Hafeez, adding: "In my humble capacity, from what I understand, if you look at Pakistan's limited over cricket in the last five years, the team was not able to sustain stability. During my tenure as T20 captain, we jumped from ninth position to the second position because of the efforts of the whole team. However, in ODIs, we always kept lurking on the fifth and sixth position.
After the 2015 World Cup, he said, "We were seventh and then we lost to Bangladesh who had already beaten some top teams at home. So, inconsistency and a lack of series wins have caused us to drop to eighth. Someone needs to stand up and take responsibility of the team's downward spiral in limited overs cricket because you cannot expect improvement without it."
He was of the view that "no single person is responsible, we need to reconsider our policy, the management needs to rethink their strategy and as a player I am the first one who will take responsibility for it. Because I think, the only way towards reconciliation is by taking responsibility of the wrongs and then moving forward towards improvement," he insisted.