KP demands `life bans` for match-fixers

Johannesburg [South Africa], Dec.31 (ANI): Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen has lashed out at players who 'take shortcuts' and get involved in illegal activities like match-fixing, saying these cricketers should be banned for life. "It really pisses me off when I see people taking the short cuts.I 've never taken short cuts in training, and when people start taking short cuts for a little bit of cash, it annoys me, Sport24 quoted Pietersen, as saying. The South African-born batsman was asked about corruption in the game after a newspaper report revealed how young cricketers were being approached by illegal bookmakers through a social media. Pietersen said that although the spectre of corruption would always be around the game, the players are given all the education regarding the rules and risks. The 36-year-old insisted that if anyone ignores the warnings and get involved in corruption, then he or she should be belted away from cricket. "They always give the players all the information they need, they tell them all the stories, they talk about how approaches are, they talk about everything that goes on with it," he said. "If you're one of those players who gets approached, and you make the stupid decision to go down the wrong avenue, you've just got to belt them away from cricket. Because it really irritates me, it annoys me," Pietersen said. Pietersen, however, made it clear that he was never approached by bookmakers, but added that because of his involvement in the T20 Challenge in South Africa he knows how it exactly works. "I've never been approached, never seen it. I've heard stories, I've heard how they approach and how they go at stuff in the past couple of weeks," he added.(ANI)