Islamabad United and the Pakistan Cricket Board faced embarrassment last February when two of the national team batsmen, Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif were found guilty of meeting with a bookmaker and agreeing to spot fix in the second Pakistan Super League.
Both of them, who were with Islamabad United, were suspended and sent back home on the second day of the league from Dubai and have since then been banned for five years by a three member anti-corruption tribunal of the Pakistan board.
"The menace of spot-fixing and gambling is like cancer for all sports including cricket and it is very important cricket boards take all steps to root out this problem from all cricket," said Waqar, who is bowling coach and Director cricket in the Islamabad United franchise for the third edition of PSL.
He noted that due to popularity of T20 franchise based leagues, players would be targeted by corrupt elements and they had to be educated to remain on guard all the time.
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Pakistan cricket has been hit hard by fixing scandals starting with a judicial match fixing inquiry in the 90s which led to life ban on former test captain, Salim Malik in 2000.
In 2010, then Pakistan captain Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamir were all caught for spot-fixing during a test at Lords against England and subsequently banned for minimum of five years by the ICC.
Some other leading Pakistani players have also come under suspicion over fixing allegations.
Waqar also made it clear that more stringent anti- corruption measures should be taken by all boards if necessary and no player should be spared if found guilty of corruption.
The former pacer, however, said that while T20 had grown in popularity but the importance of Test cricket remained even now.
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