Prabhakar to continue his war against corruption in the game

Former Indian allrounder Manoj Prabhakar appeared before the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) Commissioner of Inquiry, K Madhavan in Chennai today. After the inquiry, the media were prevented by the hotel security staff from talking to the player. The details of the inquiry were not known though Prabhakar said "I'll come back to you."

Earlier just after arriving for the cross-examination at the Radisson Hotel, talking on the scandal, Prabhakar said "The battle is over, but the war to cleanse the game is on." He also alleged that the report was full of 'inaccuracies'. He added that the CBI had not seen the video cassettes handed over by him. He said "The report also does not reflect the evidence that I gave during my examination."

On whether he would give further details during the course of the inquiry by Madhavan, the former Delhi player said "it all depended on how fair the cross-examination is going to be."

Later, the former CBI Joint Director Madhavan met the media and said that there was no information whatsoever from the former Indian captain Mohd. Azharuddin who was summoned to appear before the BCCI's inquiry. The board sources said that Azharuddin was to appear before Madhavan at 12.30 pm on Saturday but was 'untraceable'. "We do not know whether he accepted Madhavan's letter requesting him to appear for an inquiry."

As for Ajay Sharma, Madhavan said he would be examined in Delhi on November 14 as he had stated that he was not in a position to travel here due to health reasons. He had submitted a doctor's certificate in this regard. Ajay Jadeja, Nayan Mongia and former physio Ali Irani would appear for the cross-examination tomorrow. Madhavan added that Ram Adhar, groundsman of Ferozeshah Kotla, had already been examined in Delhi a couple of days ago.

The disturbance earlier this week at a press conference held by Jadeja prompted the BCCI to hold the inquiry here in Chennai and not in Delhi, where Madhavan said the number of media persons would also have been higher and hence difficult to manage.

The sources confirmed that on Sunday Nayan Mongia, Ajay Jadeja and physio Ali Irani had all agreed to appear before Madhavan for the inquiry. Mongia would be questioned at 8.30 am, Jadeja at 9.30 am and Irani at 2.30 pm.

Meanwhile in Dhaka, former ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya has called for maximum punishment to those involved in match-fixing. Dalmiya who is a special guest at the inaugural Test between India and Pakistan said "Those who are involved must be given maximum punishment." Talking to WorldTel in Dhaka, AFP quotes Dalmiya as saying that "The Central Bureau of Investigation has done a creditable job as far as players are concerned," adding that he drew a distinction between exchange of information and match-fixing or underperforming.

In a related development, the New Zealand Cricket Board said that retired High Court judge Sir Ian Barker and Christchurch barrister Nick Davidson will head New Zealand Cricket's (NZC) anti-corruption inquiry to look into the match-fixing allegations on New Zealand players.

The New Zealand cricket chief Chris Doig said "Martin has strenuously denied the allegations and welcomed the initiation of an independent, New Zealand-based inquiry," reports the Christchurch Press.

Recently, the CBI in its report has alleged that Martin Crowe received money from an Indian bookmaker. The CBI report claimed Crowe received $US20,000 for providing pitch, weather and team information to Indian bookmaker MK Gupta in 1992.

In Sri Lanka, the national selectors on Friday dropped from its team former captain and veteran player Aravinda de Silva, who is one of the players named in the CBI's interim report, for the South African tour starting next month.

Meanwhile in Dubai on Saturday, former Pakistan captain Imran Khan said that the boards of all Test playing nations and the International Cricket Council (ICC) were responsible for the mess the game was in today. "I hope all the cricket boards wake up as soon as possible to let the whole truth come out in the open. Only then the credibility of the game can be restored. The Central Bureau of Investigation of India (CBI) investigated only one syndicate in which bookie Mukesh Gupta was involved. I believe there are many more syndicates out there who have ruined the game", he said.

On the match-fixing issue the former captain who led Pakistan to a World Cup victory said "I used to feel that there is nothing like match fixing in cricket. When I appeared before the inquiry headed by justice Malik Mohammed Qayyum, I told the judge that I suspected something was wrong during my playing days but I never thought it to be serious."