ICC should impose life ban on fixers: Muralitharan

The International Cricket Council (ICC) should impose life ban on the Pakistani players if they are found guilty of spot-fixing, Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan said in Centurion, on Wednesday.

Muralitharan joined the likes of Shane Warne and Daniel Vettori in demanding life ban on the three Pakistan cricketers -- Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir -- if they are found guilty in the spot-fixing scandal to deter younger generation from such corrupt practices.

"If they are guilty, they should get a life ban, that's the most important thing," Muralitharan, who recently retired from Test cricket, told ESPNcricinfo.

"The younger generation should not follow that, so the punishment should be harsh if (players) are guilty," said Muralitharan who is playing in the Champions League Twenty20 for the Chennai Super Kings.

"The game has to be clean. If somebody gets a life ban doing these things, others will stop doing that. The ICC has to act a lot on this," he added.

Butt, Asif and Aamir were quizzed by Scotland Yard earlier this month after a sting operation by British tabloid News of the World claimed they were involved in bowling deliberate no-balls during the fourth Test at Lord's between England and Pakistan.

The trio were provisionally suspended by the ICC but no charges were pressed against them as yet by Scotland Yard. A fourth Pakistan player, fast bowler Wahab Riaz, was also questioned by Scotland Yard.