Distorted and contradictory, says Dalmiya

The former President of the International Cricket Council Jagmohan Dalmiya on Monday denied having stated that some players were involved in match fixing. In a press release Dalmiya said, "I have been quoted wrongly by the website. They had not approached me for an interview. I was interviewed by Mr. SNM Abdi, who claimed to be the Delhi correspondent of a Hong Kong based English newspaper. The entire statement that has been written is distorted and contradictory."

Dalmiya said, "Mr. Abdi had asked whether I had a knowledge of matches being fixed. My reply to his query had been that except for the Kanpur match in 1994, it never seemed to me that matches could be fixed. If I had said that in the first place, how could I say that players were definitely involved in match fixing. The report in itself is contradictory."

The former ICC President and the President of the Cricket Association of Bengal also made it very clear that it would not be proper for him to pass any comment on the match fixing inquiry which was still on. "It would be an immature act to form an opinion till such time that the inquiry report is published," he said. He also stated that he was writing to the website concerned to obtain the cassettes of the interview taken by Mr. Aniruddha Behal and Mr. Abdi against necessary payment. "I wish to make it clear that after I receive the cassettes, these would be sent for examination to verify how much of their contents were doctored or distorted," he said.