Pakistan: Basit and Haroon record statements (20 Sep 1998)

20 September 1998

Basit and Haroon record statements

By Our Reporter

LAHORE, Sept 19: In their statements before the Inquiry Commission probing allegations of match fixing, on Saturday, a newspaper editor and a former cricketer team manager said that they did not have direct evidence of match fixing against any player.

Replying to a court question, ex-manager Haroon Rasheed said that there were certain matches in which he felt players like Wasim Akram, Saleem Malik and Ijaz should have played better. He said that these players played irresponsibly on certain occasions.

Ms Kamila Hayat, editor, The News, Lahore who had accompanied the national team on foreign tours on a number of occasions, said on these tours people would often talk about match fixing. She said that there were always strong rumours about betting and on occasions one felt that these might not be baseless.

Justice Malik Muhammad Qayyum also recorded the statement of batsman Basit Ali in camera. Further proceedings will be held on September 27 and the commission will record the statements of former captains Intikhab Alam, Rashid Latif and a person whose name has figured in the match-fixing controversy, Mr Khalid Gitti. The commission has directed the issuance of a public notice inviting anybody with evidence to come forward to record their version.

Asked by the court to name some persons with first-hand knowledge on betting, Ms Hayat suggested that juniors players in the team should be called, especially those who toured Sri Lanka in 1994.

She denied a statement by an earlier witness, former PBC official Javed Burki, that some of the Pakistani players talked about match fixing in her hearing during the cricket series in South Africa. Mr Burki had relied on the statement of a British citizen.

Ms Hayat said she also had learnt from the same Englishman, David Monroe, that he had overheard two Pakistani cricketers talking about the fixing of a match.

Mr Haroon Rasheed cited a number of incidents which he said proved irresponsible play. He said that in an Asia Cup match in 1997 Saleem Malik got himself out by playing an irresponsible stroke and also got Inzmamul Haq run out. He said that it was Malik who had called the run despite understanding between the two batsmen that they would not take risky singles.

In another match against India, Mr Rasheed continued, Malik got Saqlain Mushtaq run out by taking a risky single and later threw away his wicket. At this stage Pakistan needed only 20 runs to win in five overs which, he said, should not have been aŠproblem for a player of Malik's calibre.

Mr Rasheed said that Rashid Latif had given an interview in a magazine accusing some Pakistani and Indian players of betting. He quoted the interviewer as having said that Rashid possessed evidence of match fixing.

The former manager said that Rasheed refused to testify before the board because he said that some of his childhood friends might suffer.

Mr Rasheed referred to a match which was won by India in Karachi by scoring more than 13 runs in the last over bowled by Saqlain. He said that the bowler who was very difficult to score against seemed upset after the match.

Without blaming any particular player, the former manager said that Pakistan should have won the third test match in the home series against South Africa. They needed 144 runs but the team played irresponsibly.

He referred also to the Golden Jubilee tournament organized by Pakistan during which Wasim Akram was the captain. He said that Akram despite having come back into the team after a long layoff batted ahead of in-form batsmen.

He said in a match against Sri Lanka out of form Ijaz Ahmad was sent in earlier against his advice. Ijaz, he said, scored 94 runs but at a very slow rate.

A court reporter of The News said that betting would take place during Saturday's match between Pakistan and India and the rate was 80 paisa. The commission said that it had heard such things.

Source :: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)