International conspiracy to sabotage cricket in Sharjah

Regretting India's decision not to play at Sharjah for the next three years, Cricketers' Benefit Fund Series chairman Abdul Rehman Bukhatir alleged that a concerted effort was on to sabotage cricket at the desert venue.

''There have been concerted efforts to sabotage Sharjah as a cricket venue and this has happened from more than one source,'' Bukhatir said, pointing an accusing finger at some elements in the UAE, India and London.

Bukhtir told Gulf News, "The Indian government's decision has been influenced by all these elements to sabotage not only Sharjah in particular but Asian cricket in general."

Claiming to be perplexed by the Indian government's decision not to send the team to Sharjah, he asked ''What have we done wrong? In fact, a lot of people are asking this question. What have we done to deserve this? Nobody has told us that we have done this wrong or that right.''

He said in the CBI Report on match-fixing, ''We did not figure in even one per cent of the whole report. They also say the International Cricket Council is concerned about Sharjah but conveniently forget to mention that the ICC is concerned about the other 99 per cent venues mentioned in the report.''

Bukhatir said, ''We are intrigued. We may be at fault but please tell us what it is.''

He said that three years ago, he refused to believe that match-fixing was possible in cricket because he believed in the integrity of the players.

However, ''Now match-fixing is prevalent everywhere. It is a straight-forward contract between a bookie and a player. The venue and time is not important.''

However, he said Sharjah was the most unlikely place to fix matches. ''People who are passionate about cricket are watching every player... it is there on television,'' he added.

Defending Sharjah's reputation, Bukhatir argued, "Since Pakistan is apparently most prone to match mixing, why are they not losing in Sharjah? Either they have never fixed matches or the allegation that Pakistan players fix matches is wrong or Sharjah, as a venue, does not encourage match-fixing. You can't have two things together,'' he pointed out.

About the ongoing three-nation championship, featuring Pakistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, Bukhatir, said, ''Everything was alright... we are missing India but we will continue." He added that he appreciated the co-operation from India and Pakistan so far.

He insisted that Sharjah was more than a ground for cricketing battles between India and Pakistan. ''Sharjah has nothing to do with India or Pakistan, except for their cricketing contribution. We have always had help from them and we will try and get them to help us".

''We are grateful if they continue, if they don't, we get on at the club level... Our own level of cricket is not going to suffer because of this,'' he added.

The CBFS chief said, ''We keep saying that the two countries coming here is good for the expatriate community but no one believes us.''