Former skipper Shahid Afridi on Sunday (May 19) said that he didn't pass any information regarding the infamous spot-fixing scandal during Pakistan's controversial tour of England in 2010. 

Afridi stands firm he didn't blow the whistle on the matter to tabloid 'News of the World' which eventually broke the story. The 44-year-old had also discussed in detail about the whole matter in his autobiography 'Game Changer'. 

"These players (Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamir) still think that Lala (Afridi) blew the whistle about them to the newspaper that is not true," Afridi was quoted as saying by PTI. "It was one of my friends in England who passed on the information without informing me and even after that the newspaper carried out its own investigation and sting operation to confirm and trap the players."

Afridi remembers how Abdul Razzaq, the former all-rounder and teammate, talked to him first about the involvement of some players with fixers during the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean earlier that year. 

"Razzaq kept on telling me after one match against Sri Lanka that he had doubts about Salman Butt but I did not believe him at that time. I said they are like our younger brothers. Later on, as fate would have it a damaged mobile which went to a repair shop and whose owner knew my friend in England revealed messages that surprised me and made me suspect that these players were indeed spot-fixing matches."

Afridi, who retired from international cricket in 2016, expressed that he felt hurt and disappointed about the involvement of Butt, Amir and Asif in fixing. He said he couldn't sleep for a few days and didn't quite have the courage to share it with Razzaq who did realise something was not right.

When asked why didn't confront Butt & co regarding those messages, Afridi said he was massively let down by the reaction of the team management, including veterans like Waqar Younis and Yawar Saeed. 

"It was disappointing for me. My first job was to inform the management, I did that they said ‘beta kya karsakta hai ab (son, what we can do now)’. That is also why I gave up Test cricket and the captaincy and returned home," he said. 

However, Afridi informed that the management had warned players against meeting suspicious characters like Mazhar Majeed who was also jailed for his role in the spot-fixing scandal. Further revealing why did support the comeback of Amir to international cricket after the completion of his ban. 

"When the ‘News of the World’ broke the story and I had returned to England for the limited over matches, I confronted the three players and told them to admit if they had done it as we could help them."

"Butt kept on denying and even took oath he had done nothing wrong. In contrast, the first time I confronted Aamir he came to me and admitted he had made a big mistake. He also confessed in court," he concluded.