Money crisis compels cricketers to engage in match fixing : Shoaib

New Delhi: Former Pakistan bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Friday said that the money crisis compels the cricketers to engage in match fixing.
“Match fixings are imbibed in Paksitani cricket culture as there’s less money and even lesser opportunities here,” he said.

“In 2008, I had no money to even buy a car. I had to borrow money from a friend. I handled it, others go astray. Your friends ditch you, board doesn’t back you. They all run you down. So when you return you think let me teach them a lesson. Some are corrupt but some cricketers are turned into criminals by the system,” he said.
Expressing his dissatisfaction, the cricketing legend said “In my 15 years of cricketing career, I managed to make only seven-eight crore rupees.”
Akhtar conceded that money and glamour can lead to youngsters going astray in international cricket but in some cases it is the system that turns players into “criminals”.
“How do you tell an18-yr-old to not look at girls. There are heady temptations of fame and girls swooning over rising stars.
At 20 you get fame, you’ve crores in your pocket, you have people who lead you down the wrong path,” Akhtar told in an interview to a news channel.
When asked if he considers the glamorous IPL a threat to the game, Shoaib said the event is just “business and entertainment and not cricket”.