PCB not to allow ICC sleuths to grill Inzamam

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said it would not make Inzamam-ul-Haq available to International Cricket Council's Anti- Corruption Unit for interview.

"There is no question of allowing Inzamam to appear before Sir Paul Condon's unit when Pakistan has a packed and demanding international season," a top PCB official said. The ICC sleuths want to investigate Inzamam in connection with their probe against betting and matchfixing. The Pakistan vicecaptain, fined Rs300,000 by Justice Malik Mohammad Qayyum for hiding facts, has again been targeted by Condon's men and the English media.

The latest allegations against Inzamam revolved around his second ball duck against Australia in the tri-nation one-day tournament in England. Inzamam danced down the track against Shane Warne only to be stumped by Adam Gilchrist.

According to highly placed sources, Condon has reported the latest allegations against Inzamam to the PCB and has urged Pakistan authorities to allow his unit to question him. PCB chairman Lt Gen Tauqir Zia neither confirmed nor denied the report but admitted that three Pakistan players were grilled by ICC sleuths during Pakistan's tour to England that concluded in June.

"Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi and Waqar Younis were questioned by ICC investigators who were also supposed to examine Inzamam but he was not available. After the England tour, Inzamam proceeded to United States and has just returned," Zia said. But the PCB boss said he would not like his senior most batsman to pass through mental trauma of facing investigators at a time when Pakistan has to play 12 Tests and around 20 one-day internationals.

Inzamam, talking to Dawn from Multan, said he would wait for instructions from PCB before proceeding to England to face ICC investigators. But he minced no words toexpress his frustration. "Every player is sick of these allegations and I am no different. I am fed-up. I just don't understand why every dismissal or team's defeat is linked to ungamely tactics.

"Naturally, these allegations affect the concentration of the player because everytime he walks out in the centre, he has it in the back of his mind that if he fails to deliver, he will be under suspicion," Inzamam said.

The PCB, which has come down hard when it comes to defending players for the right reasons, further said it would not get the allegations investigated by its inquiry committee. "There is no need to toe the line of media allegations and start inquiries," Zia said. However, the general said Justice Bhandari's inquiry into World Cup allegations which had to be submitted to the ICC has been delayed.

"Although the President has appointed Justice Bhandari, the Law Secretary has yet to release a notification," he said, adding that the inquiry was unlikely to be completed before the start of fresh season. "I would have liked to close this chapter before the season starts. But now, either Justice Bhandari's inquiry will be held between a sixweek gap after the Sharjah tournament and tour to Bangladesh or after the conclusion of the season in March-April.

"I will be meeting Justice Bhandari on Saturday and will seek his plan of action. But frankly speaking, I would not like to bother my players during the season," Zia said. Justice Bhandari will be probing the allegations levelled by former South African board's managing director Ali Bacher that Pakistan deliberately threw World Cup matches to Bangladesh and India. Bhandari will also be probing Bacher's claims that retired Test umpire Javed Akhtar had been on the pay-roll of the bookies.