Akhtar accuses Pakistan team-mates of match-fixing

Former Pakistan paceman Shoaib Akhtar insist he was “surrounded” by match-fixers playing international cricket for his country. Once the world’s most feared bowler who delivered a 100mph ball, Akhtar is now 44 and has been speaking in the wake of the two-year ban dished out to Bangladesh captain Shakib-al-Hasan for failing to report an illegal approach. Although one of those years is suspended, it will put a dent in the Tigers’ hopes of competing with the big boys without their talisman in the ranks. Pakistan has suffered its fair share of controversy over the years, with Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt banned for five years for spot-fixing back in 2011. Only Amir returned to the side after the sanction and now Akhtar has lifted the lid on the culture among the Asian side’s players while he was in the team – and it does not make good reading. “I was playing against 21 people – 11 theirs and 10 ours,” he said. “I was always of the belief that I can never cheat Pakistan, no match-fixing, but I was surrounded by match-fixers. “Who knows who was the match-fixer. There was so much match-fixing. Asif told me which all matches they had fixed and how they did it.”