Salman Butt and Muhammad Aamir Left For Dubai to Prove Themselves Innocent of Spot-Fixing Drama

Pakistan's tainted duo of Salman Butt and Muhammad Aamir, along with their lawyers, today left for Dubai with the hopes of having the provisional suspensions removed at the two-day ICC hearing commencing from tomorrow.


The duo told media at the Lahore airport that they were innocent of the spot-fixing charges against them and confident that they would be vindicated at the hearing, to be chaired by Michael Beloff QC at the ICC Headquarters. "Our lawyers are very experienced and professional people and they have told us our suspensions could be removed at this hearing itself," Butt said. Butt said that he was hopeful of having his suspension removed because there was nothing against him or his teammates. "Our lawyers have prepared well and studied this case closely and we are hopeful that we will get positive result," he said. Butt, who led the national team in the Test series in England, and pacers Aamir and Muhammad Asif were suspended by the ICC in early September after British tabloid 'News of the World' carried out a sting operation.

According to the story, the players' agent Mazhar Majeed had on video confirmed that he had paid bribes to them to bowl deliberate no�balls in the fourth Test against England at the Lord's. The trio appealed against their suspensions with the ICC but surprisingly Asif last week decided to withdraw his appeal insisting he didn't get complete documents from the ICC on time and his lawyers had told him to instead lodge a full appeal against the fixing allegations against him. Scotland Yard is also investigating the allegations made by Mazhar about spot-fixing. However, Butt felt that Mazhar had exaggerated a lot of things in his statement to the tabloid and wondered how could one give so much credibility to the tabloid itself. Left-arm pacer Aamir said that he had always insisted he and his teammates were innocent. "Whatever anyone has said about us we are innocent and we have done nothing wrong. That is why I am confident that these suspensions would be removed at this hearing itself," he said. "There is nothing incriminating against us and we will have these suspensions lifted soon," Aamir added. The pacer said he was ready to make a quick comeback to the national team for the series against South Africa if the suspensions were removed this weekend. "Playing for Pakistan is everything for me and I have also told the Pakistan Cricket Board and our team management that I want to play as soon as the suspension is removed," he said.