Three Hong-Kong players were found guilty of spot-fixing and match-fixing during a period of two years. Irfan Ahmed and Nadeem Ahmed have been banned for life while Haseeb Amjad has been banned for five years.

Nadeem Ahmed is the most experienced of them all having played 49 international games, 25 ODIs and 24 T20Is. His brother and all-rounder Irfan Ahmed has played 6 ODIs and 8 T20Is. Both of them have been banned for life stating that their conduct was premeditated and sophisticated and they tried to involve some others in this corruption act too.

The third guilty, Haseeb Amjad has so far played 7 ODIs and 18 T20Is for Hong Kong. He has been restricted from playing for the next 5 years. All three cricketers are born in Pakistan.

The Anti-Corruption Tribunal conducted the investigation for two years that involves charges in the matches against Scotland and Canada. The players fixed some spots during the matches as well but it did not affect the results of the game as Hong Kong emerged victorious.

The General Manager of the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit, Alex Marshall said in a statement, “This has been a long and complex investigation which has uncovered systematic attempts to influence moments in matches by experienced international cricketers over a period of time. Their conduct was premeditated and sophisticated and each of the Ahmed brothers sought to corrupt others.”

“The main offences relate to the Hong Kong matches against Scotland and Canada where the players fixed specific overs. These matches were won by Hong Kong so it did not materially affect the results of the tournament, however, I cannot reiterate strongly enough to any player considering this that we treat any form of fixing - spot or match - with the utmost seriousness.”

“With the fixers finding it harder than ever before to penetrate the highest levels of the game, we are increasingly seeing them turn their attention to other avenues in the sport and we will continue to work with Members to ensure players at all levels are educated about the dangers of corruption.”

“The severity of the offences is reflected in the sanctions and I hope will deter other players from taking this path and demonstrate to cricket fans around the world our commitment to a corruption-free sport.”

(With inputs from India Today)