Afridi blasts Hameed in Pakistan corruption row

CARDIFF — Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi blasted Yasir Hameed as being mentally a teenager as the batsman insisted he was duped by a newspaper over betting scam claims which eclipsed the team's defeat to England.One-day skipper Afridi tore into Test batsman Hameed, who claimed he had done nothing more than repeat the allegations of "spot-fixing" being faced by three Pakistan players.The row overshadowed Pakistan's first international game since the scandal rocking the sport first erupted.They were beaten by five wickets in the first of two Twenty20 fixtures against England at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.News of the World -- which broke the corruption story engulfing Pakistan's tour of England -- released footage of Hameed in a bar telling an undercover reporter that some Pakistan players were fixing "almost every match"."They?ve been caught. Only the ones that get caught are branded crooks. They were doing it (fixing) in almost every match. God knows what they were up to. Scotland Yard was after them for ages," he was quoted as saying."It makes me angry because I?m playing my best and they are trying to lose."The 32-year-old also said he had been approached by shadowy figures and offered bribes but refused -- and was subsequently dropped from the side for two years.Following the T20 defeat in the Welsh capital, Afridi said what he thought of Hameed."Mentally he is 15, 16. I don't know with who he was sitting or in which situation he gave this message," he said."We have known him for a long time and we can expect anything from him. He has been doing these type of things a lot of times."Asked if Hameed was unreliable, he replied: "Yeah, the people know which type of character he is."Hameed released an affidavit, read by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)'s lawyer outside the country's High Commission in London.The batsman said he believed he had been talking to a potential sponsor -- who turned out to be an undercover reporter."He offered me at least 50,000 pounds for the deal," which involved having an airline

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