Spot-fixing verdict a start to deter others: Gavaskar

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar said that jail terms being handed to three Pakistani players by a London court on Thursday for spot-fixing would act as a deterrent to young cricketers from getting involved in such corrupt practices.

"I won't say it (handing jail terms) will completely stop corruption in cricket but this should be a big deterrent," Gavaskar said.

"Earlier, if the authorities ban a player for such things they would say OK we are not going to play cricket so what. But, spending time behind bars is something. They will now think several times before doing such dirty tricks," he added.

Gavaskar said he was initially surprised that Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammed Amir were handed varying sentences by the court.

"At first thought I was surprised that the three players have been handed different punishments for same thing. But once the sentence has been pronounced by the judge then we have to go by it though the varying punishments can be debated upon," he told NDTV.

Out-of-favour India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said that those who were guilty should be punished.

"Saja milna chahiye. Jo karta hain bhagawan achha karta hain," he said when asked about the jail terms being handed on the Pakistani trio.