Farhat threatens legal action against Majeed

Imran Farhat, the Pakistan opener, is considering legal action against Mazhar Majeed, the player agent allegedly at the centre of the spot-fixing scandal engulfing the Pakistan team. Farhat was named by Majeed on Tuesday in fresh video footage as one of seven players he has working with him.

"Instructions have been given to our lawyer in London to send a notice to Mazhar Majeed," a source close to Farhat told ESPNcricinfo. "We want Majeed to clarify and prove what he has said, or at least admit that what he has said was unintentional and incorrect. Otherwise we will take legal action for defamation against him."

The possibility that Majeed took Farhat's name mistakenly, the source said, is being considered. "He might have been talking about someone else and Farhat's name came up by accident but this has to be clarified by him."

Geo, a Pakistani TV channel, broadcasted previously unseen video footage in which Majeed takes the names of four more Pakistani players who, he claimed, work with him. The footage was shown as an exhibit in the ICC's provisional suspension hearings of Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir, held in October in Dubai, and was part of the evidence submitted by ICC against the three suspended players linked to the spot-fixing scandal.

Farhat was part of Pakistan's squad in the series against South Africa but was dropped for the tour of New Zealand. His axing is likelier to be the result of poor performances, however, and the relative success of a new opening pair in Taufeeq Umar and Mohammad Hafeez.