Afghanistan Premier League organisers confident of corruption-free tournament

Although Afghanistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Shahzad was reportedly approached about spot-fixing ahead of the inaugural edition of the Afghanistan Premier League, tournament director Basheer Stanikzai is confident of a corruption-free event in Sharjah.

The tournament begins on October 5 in Sharjah and the spot-fixing cloud has been looming large ever since Shahzad reported being approached to the team management, who in turn alerted the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit.

Speaking about the incident, APL tournament director Basheer Stanikzai said: "He was suspicious. It wasn't actually a corrupt approach but he felt he should report it. Nothing will happen at the Afghanistan Premier League. If [the players] are suspicious, they are right to report anything. It wasn’t that serious, but we told him to report this."

He also recalled a similar incident that had happened in the past with him and admitted the Shahzad incident was eerily similar to that.

“I can give you one example from the past. A guy asked me what will happen tomorrow in the game and I reported it. It was a similar type of thing. When they investigated there was nothing about it. This was a similar type of thing. There was a misunderstanding and there was nothing serious," he added.

Stanikzai believes that the players now know that if it is a corrupt approach or if they are even suspicious, they can report it. He also added that they are taking extra care ahead of the tournament and it is not just about playing in Sharjah that has put them on alert at all times.

"It is not about Sharjah. Anywhere we play, we take care of that. For this league, we are fortunate that we have got services of the ICC Anti-Corruption unit, they are handling it along with our anti-corruption officers. Even when we were playing our league back home, we follow those protocols," he added.

The inaugural edition of the Afghanistan Premier League will take place from October 5 to October 23 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Five teams will be competing for the title across 23 matches and the list of players taking part in the tournament includes international stars like Shahid Afridi, Chris Gayle, Andre Russell and Shoaib Malik and local talents like Rashid Khan and Mujeeb.