The International
Cricket Council (ICC) imposed the suspension on Wednesday ahead of
investigations and Muralitharan, the leading wicket taker both in test and
one-day internationals, said anyone found guilty deserved the severest punishment.
“Definitely, people
that do these things should be punished for life. They, at any level, should
not be tolerated,” the 40-year-old told Reuters in an interview in Singapore on
Saturday. “I think the ICC is doing the right thing…if they are found guilty,
they will definitely be punished.”
The latest case of
spot-fixing was another blot on the sport which suffered a wave of negative
headlines when three Pakistani internationals were found guilty of spot-fixing
during a test series in England two years ago.Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and
Mohammad Amir were jailed in Britain for their roles in a gambling-inspired
plot to bowl no-balls at pre-arranged times during a test match at London’s
Lord’s Cricket Ground in August 2010.
Muralitharan, who
took 800 test wickets in a glittering career to go with 534 from one-dayers,
backed the ICC and said it was good that people were being caught and not
allowed to get away with damaging the sport. “In society there are good people
and bad people and it has always been like that, but fortunately they get
caught so that means cricket is getting cleaner and cleaner.
“I think ICC is
doing a lot of education (programmes for players). Cricket boards, match
referees, management (are also) educating, so there is enough education.”While
Muralitharan has retired from international cricket after nearly two decades of
bamboozling batsmen, he continues to ply his trade in the lucrative world of
Twenty20.
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