Geo Sports

Spot fixing trial: Pakistanis wanted to lose to damage Afridi

LONDON: Pakistan cricketers were ready to throw one-day internationals and Twenty20s in a bid to undermine then captain Shahid Afridi and make "a lot of money", a London court heard on Tuesday. Mazhar Majeed, an agent for several Pakistan players, told an undercover reporter last year that the players wanted Afridi replaced by then Test captain Salman Butt and were prepared to fix matches to do it, Southwark Crown Court heard. The jury in the trial of Butt and fast bowler Mohammad Asif saw video of meetings between Majeed and the News of the World's investigation's editor Mazher Mahmood. Mahmood, a star reporter for Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct tabloid, was posing as an Indian frontman for a Far East gambling syndicate. Prosecutors allege Butt and Asif agreed for no-balls to be bowled as part of a spot-fixing betting scam. (AFP)