Cricketers dismiss suggestions of foul play

Pakistan's four frontline cricketers dismissed World Cup fix allegations while recording their statements before the oneman commission of Justice Karamat Bhindari in Lahore Saturday.

Moin Khan, who was the vice-captain of the World Cup team, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq and present skipper Waqar Younis maintained that Pakistan lost the games just because it was their bad day.

They vehemently dismissed suspicions that Pakistan had deliberately thrown matches against India and Bangladesh.

Wasim Akram, who was the skipper in 1999, was present in the court. But his statement would be recorded when the team returns from Sharjah after appearing in the tri-nation one-day series to be played between Oct 26 and Nov 4.

Off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and Pakistan's World Cup coach Mushtaq Mohammad, who are in England and were also summoned for Saturday's hearing, have been asked to inform the commission when they are available to record their statements.

Justice Bhindari, expanding his inquiry, has summoned the scribes who covered the 1999 event on Oct 27.

Moin Khan: Moin Khan disagreed with team manager Dr Zafar Altaf's observation that substandard pitch was to be blamed for the defeat against Bangladesh. He told the honourable judge that the captain, senior players and he himself had decided to chase the target if Pakistan won the toss.

"We had played four stressful matches before the game against Bangladesh which we won while defending totals. This time we decided to chase the target. But I think lost because we bowled badly," Moin said, while admitting that complacency was the major factor of team's defeat. "The team, including myself, took the match lightly."

Moin, to a question, said no irrelevant man visited the dressing room during or after the match.

Wasim Akram, in his post-match interview at Northampton, had said that Pakistan lost to its brothers. When Justice Bhindari sought Moin's point of view on Akram's statement, Moin said that he didn't see anything foul in the remarks.

The outspoken Moin blamed former Test cricketers for hurling matchfixing allegations against current Test players. "When they were in the team, everything was okay to them. When they lose their places, they start throwing baseless allegations."

On the match against India at Old Trafford, Moin said Pakistan players have always played to win. "We tried our best against India in the World Cup. But I think it was one of our bad days and nothing more than that."

Inzamam-Ul-Haq: Inzamam-ul-Haq, during his testimony, suggested that any player against whom there was slightest of doubt, should be withdrawn from the Sharjah-bound squad and not allowed to play until investigations were completed and he given a clean sheet.

"I don't think players can perform under so much pressure. All those players against whom inquiry is going, whether it's me or anybody, should not be included in the team at the moment unless and until the inquiry finishes," Inzamam said.

Inzamam, on the match against Bangladesh, observed the players didn't focus themselves on the game. He didn't blame the pitch but felt that Pakistan buckled under pressure after losing three quick wickets.

"The pitch was normal, but it does always happen whenever we chase and lose two or three quick wickets we struggle. And that exactly happened against Bangladesh."

Inzamam complimented Bangladesh for putting up a good show. "It's not that we didn't bowl well. Bangladesh batsmen batted well against us. "As far as game against India is concerned I don't think any ulterior motive can be attributed to Pakistan team," he concluded.

Waqar Younis: Waqar Younis told the honourable court that the only reason for defeat against Bangladesh was complacency and overconfidence. By the time we realized that the match was slipping out of hands, it was too late to recover.

"Since it was my first match in the World Cup, I was more concerned about my own performance. The conditions were overcast and the skipper (Wasim Akram) thought bowling first was the right choice," Waqar said, adding that he took two wickets for 34 runs and was easily the best bowler.

"I did not hear from any quarter - either from dressing room or at the ground that we had decided to lose against Bangladesh before the match. I did not hear that there were any instructions from the government of Pakistan to lose the game."

On the match against India, Waqar recalled that Pakistan's history against India in World Cup was not good. Pakistan had also lost 1992 and 1996 World Cup matches to the traditional rivals.

"I have no explanation why we lost against them. I think we played well against India, but unfortunately we lost the match."

Saeed Anwar: The left-handed opener said when Wasim Akram won the toss, the team felt that they would bundle out Bangladesh for 50/60 runs as the conditions were ideal and ball was swinging. "But our bowlers couldn't control the ball."

While agreeing with Justice Bhandari that Pakistan were bad chasers, Saeed said the decision was also taken keeping in mind that since tougher matches were in store in the Super Six stage, the experiment was worth a try.

Saeed had stroked a century when Pakistan chased the target in the semifinal against New Zealand.

Saeed said he didn't see any abnormality in the defeat against India. "Our opponents knew know that we are bad chasers and they won the toss and we came under pressure while chasing."

Explaining his cheap dismissal in the final when he was out first ball after changing the grip of the bat, Saeed explained: "At that time people thought that I had been approached by bookmakers. But there was nothing of that sort of a thing at all.

"I wanted to play the final with the same bat with which I scored two centuries. But the grip of the bat got loose and that was the only reason I changed the grip. Unfortunately I got out off the very next delivery and people started to hurl match-fixing allegations against me."