London/ Melbourne, Aug. 30: Bookie Mazhar Majeed, who was arrested by the London Metropolitan Police, has revealed that the betting syndicate made £830,000 from the controversial Test early this year between Pakistan and Australia.
“Let me tell you the last Test we did. It was the Second Test against Australia in Sydney. Australia had two more wickets left. They had a lead of 10 runs, yeah. And Pakistan had all their wickets remaining. The odds for Pakistan to lose that match, for Australia to win that match, were I think 40-1,” he is caught on tape telling the undercover reporters of News Of The World during a sting operation.
“We let them get up to 150 then everyone lost their wickets. That one we made 1.3. But that’s what I mean, you can get up to a million. Tests is where the biggest money is because those situations arise,” Majeed added.
Meanwhile, Australian captain Ricky Ponting said he has been left stunned by the revelations.
But the Aussie skipper insisted that he never suspected anything fishy during the 36-run win over Pakistan in January in a match, which saw nine wickets of the visiting side fall for 89 runs. “Not at the time, no, I had no idea about anything like that at all,” Ponting told ABC Radio.
“The way we won was one of the more satisfying moments that I’ve had on the cricket field. And now when some of these things come to light is when you start to slightly doubt some of the things that have happened. It’s not up to us to worry about that anyway,” he added.