Agent lashes out at 'shady' rival caught in Pakistan betting scandal

Pakistan's two main cricket agents are at war over the betting scandal that has left the game in crisis. Umran Khan – whose Dubai-based sports management company represents seven Pakistan players, including the captain for the one-day series, Shahid Afridi – has accused Mazhar Majeed, the agent caught in the News of the World sting, of carrying out "shady deals". Khan, chief executive of Aces Middle East, has also accused the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) of being "a joke" and has called for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to insist that Pakistan agents are properly licensed to help "cut out this cancer from the game for good". "The ICC needs to license Pakistani agents," he said. "All agents should be vetted and checked, and duly registered. I am willing to go through this process because we have nothing to hide. However, who knows how many other dodgy agents are around that we don't know about?" He told the PakPassion.net website: "If the allegations are proven... then the authorities should set an example and give the sternest possible sentence. These people should not be let off with just a slap on the wrist. They all deserve a life ban, without any leniency whatsoever. They have nobody to blame but themselves." As well as Afridi, Aces Middle East manages Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Fawad Alam, Shahzaib Hasan, Zulqarnain Haider and Yasir Hameed. "My players have absolutely nothing to do with this," Khan said. "They are not involved in these kinds of practices at all, and are all clean-cut players. "It will be very interesting to see how the PCB will tackle this; the whole world is watching. I'm not so sure that PCB knew about any of this. They were caught unaware like everyone else. But now they do know, so they should act. "They have been a joke in the past – giving certain players bans for some reasons, banning others for no reasons, then lifting bans randomly. Now they have to act properly." Khan caught what is quickly becoming the prevailing mood by showing slight sympathy for Mohammad Amir, the 18-year-old caught up in the spot-fixing allegations. "Amir is a junior player and a newcomer should have been better guided by the seniors," he said. "The majority of the blame is with the senior players; Amir, being naive and young, was sucked into this, it seems." But Khan's most trenchant criticism was reserved for Majeed. "These guys did not work in a professional environment," he claimed. "We run ourselves like a business. We have a proper contract for the deal. Everything is documented and done in an above-board manner. On the other hand, there are agents like Mazhar Majeed, who are the opposite. We all saw in the videos how he's doing shady deals from hotel rooms, or the back of a van, etc. That's how these guys worked."