Afridi claims to have known spot-fixing in Pakistan cricket
The ICC, as per their policy would not comment either as whether the matter was reported by Afridi then.
Mumbai: Unfortuntely there is no one at the top in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) who could have confirmed whether Shahid Afridi did have the knowledge of spot-fixing which he has claimed in his book-Game Changer, which was launched on Saturday in Karachi.
Yawar saeed, the team manager then, whom Afridi "hinted" about the same but took no action died four years ago and Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman then, is suffering from Alzheimer and at the current age of 81 would not recollect anything.
The ICC, as per their policy would not comment either as whether the matter was reported by Afridi then. However, Afridi's one of the other claims of being five years older than the "age believed" has takers in Pakistan.
"Shahid Afridi used to be called "Shahid Pathan" in mid 90s and he was famous for hard hitting in Karachi cricket. It's impossible for a 13,14 years old kid to smash big sixes. At that time he was 21,22 years old.
So it was open secret that Afridi was not 16 years old when he smashed fastest ODI hundred in 1996", Farhan Nasir, the renowned cricket statistician in Pakistan said over telephone from Lahore.
"If Shahid Afridi admitted that he was not that young, it's not a breaking news. But in 1996 his actual age was between 21 and 22, not 16". "Hasan Raza was not 14 when he made a world record of youngest Test debut".
"Afridi's age was always being speculated in media and we decided to clear it once and for all", Wajahat Khan, the co-author of the book said before leaving for the launch of the book in Karachi on Saturday evening.
"Me and Afridi are from the same regions in Pakistan and our area was under developed and there was no proofs and hence this discrepancy about his age", the author added.
He, however, refused to figure out Afridi's age as on passport. "Shahid Afridi's wife had a fight with her husband when she realized that Afridi is five years older", says Awaits Afridi, who is Shahid Afridi's brother.
Shahid Afridi book