Wasim denies he was under pressure

Former Pakistan skipper Wasim Akram has denied that he was under government pressure to lose a World Cup match against Bangladesh in 1999.

He was recording his statement before the one-man judicial commission headed by Justice Karamat Nazir Bhandari which is investigating the match -fixing allegation against Pakistan team for deliberately losing two World Cup matches, against Bangladesh and India.

Wasim, who was leading the team, refuted the charges that he bowed down to any pressure from the government in order to let Bangladesh get Test status.

Wasim said though the Pakistan team was stronger than Bangladesh, they lost the match only due to over confidence. He said that two run-outs, one of Saeed Anwar and other of Azhar Mahmood in that match were not deliberate but were due to misjudgements.

Saeed Anwar was run out due to a wrong call from Inzamam-ul- Haq while Azhar Mahmood was also run out when he with Wasim had retrieved the position to some extent.

Wasim said that he included Salim Malik in the match against Bangladesh because he was the only, most experienced middle order batsman after Yousuf Youhana who was on the injury list on that day.

To a question, Wasim replied that as the Pakistan team was known as being a bad chaser, he gave them practice of chasing the target, before competing in the Super sixes stage of the World Cup and therefore opted to field first against Bangladesh.

Denying another allegation against Pakistan team of bowling wide balls in good numbers in that match, Wasim said that it was very hard for a fast bowler to deliberately bowl a wide ball.

He said that in England, the ball had more swing on either side, furthermore, the shape of the ball which was used in the World Cup also proved helpful in swinging and it was why more wide balls were bowled in 1999 World Cup as compared toprevious competitions.

When asked why he did not open the bowling attack and tossed the ball towards Waqar Younis for this job, he said that he did so on the request of Waqar Younis who wanted to use the new ball. He admitted that the Bangladesh had the potential of scoring a total of around 150, but they played better on that day and crossed the 200-run barrier. Later, the failure of the upper batting order of the Pakistan team further multiplied the problems, he said.

Wasim denied that his assets were beyond his income and that he had earned money through match fixing. He said that cricket was his lone financial source and his entire income was on record. He also refuted Sarfraz Nawaz's statement that he had advised him (Akram) on the day of match against Bangladesh to avoid a defeat because there was hue and cry in the public that Pakistan would lose it. He said that he talked to Sarfraz Nawaz last time some five years ago.

Reacting to Majid Khan's statement recorded before the commission, he said that Majid must give strong evidence for accusations against the Pakistan team.

Regarding Pakistan-India tie, he said a match between two countries had been treated like a war and no one could dare to lose these matches deliberately. He said against India, the Pakistan team was under pressure because the nation wants a win at all costs against that country.

He said that must-win pressure on the Pakistan team should be eliminated. Once it went away, he assured, the Pakistan team would be able to give 40 to 50 percent better performance.

Wasim said that in two years Pakistan Cricket Board had four chairmen. Neither captain, coach nor manager knew their fate after every change in the top slot of the board.

He refuted the allegation that a bookie made a deal between him and Mujib-ur-Rehman which paved the way for lifting of the ban on him.

To a question, Wasim said that he had seen the match between South Africa and England in which Pakistani umpire Javed Akhtar gave nine LBWs. He said that two or three decisions of Javed Akhtar might be controversial but overall his performance was good.

Justice Nazir Karamat asked the PCB to write a letter to the South African cricket board to send any material if they had against Javed Akhtar's umpiring.

The next date of the hearing will be announced Monday. The commission is to finalise its report by Dec 31.