Will the root problem ever be solved, asks Jimmy Adams

It was only on Wednesday that Indian Sports Minister SS Dhindsa went around town pontificating that the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) interim report would stop match-fixing in future and would have a positive impact on the game. However, West Indian captain Jimmy Adams takes the opposite view.

Adams, upon arrival in Australia, said he felt that corruption in the game will not be removed completely. Adams asked "Will the root problem ever be solved? Will you ever get to a point where cricketers will never be approached (by bookies)? How do you solve that? You will always have gambling. And that is the root problem. How do you remove that?"

But the hero-turned villain Manoj Prabhakar came down heavily on the ban by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) saying that the interim report was one-sided and the board had succumbed to it. Prabhakar charged the CBI of 'trying to protect somebody'. An angry Prabhakar said "The Management and the people sitting in the BCCI office are worse than the bookies. If the CBI goes only by what is said by the bookies, who destroyed cricket in India and the world, what can I do now?," he asked and added "What they have mentioned (in their report) is not my full report".

Prabhakar claimed that the agency wanted "to show that Manoj Prabhakar is the main culprit". Questioning the agency, he quipped "If I wanted to do all this (I am accused of), I need not have reported to the team manager the offer of money to under perform in 1994, be almost stabbed to death by a bookie in 1997 and to have stuck my neck out in exposing the corruption in the game now."

Meanwhile, the former Indian captain Ajay Jadeja, one of the five named and banned for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal said he was hurt that Azharuddin had named him as one of his associates in the murky deals. Reacting to Azharuddin's statement to the CBI, Jadeja said "If he has taken my name, it is definitely something serious." He added if anybody else had taken my name, I would have ignored it, if a teammate says it, is something like what Manoj said about 'paaji' (Kapil Dev)."

Reacting to the ban, former Indian wicketkeeper Nayan Mongia who is in Mumbai to play the Times Shield Tournament said he was shocked to hear about his ban as he was not involved in the controversy. Mongia said "I am a god-fearing man and I would not even think of doing anything like that (match-fixing). The ban has come as a shock to me as I am innocent and only time will prove it."

On his name being mentioned in the report, Mongia said "I have read a part of the report which mentions my name and I find that I have been wrongly implicated as I was not even in the 14-member team in the two of the three matches mentioned in the report. He added "I have nothing to fear for as my conscience says that I am clean. If I were to be involved in the controversy, then I would not have been playing for my team but would have been hiding from the public.''

In a related development, the Hyderabad Cricket Association said that it has received a directive from the board on asking the association to drop Azharuddin from the squad. HCA secretary Shivlal Yadav said "Azharuddin opting out of Hyderabad's Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka has spared us embarrassing moments. We had selected Azharuddin out of respect to the former India captain. But he backed out citing a back problem. Had he been fit and played, we would have been forced to pull him out of the match midway through the third day's play. Consequently, the team would have battled with only 10 players."

Asked for his comments on what action the board should take on matchfixers, Yadav said "Personally, I feel, the Board should take severe action against the guilty so that the current players and the upcoming cricketers will keep away from bookies."

In Sri Lanka, star batsman Aravinda de Silva said he was approached by several persons in the past who tried to offer him money during his tour to India or abroad and that he had declined the offers. The Daily News quoted him as saying that "I am shocked to note that he has been linked to match fixing. If I was offered any bribe to fix matches, I would have brought it to the notice of the relevant authorities."

Former England captain Alec Stewart continued to maintain his stand that he was never involved in the scandal. The Times quoted Stewart as saying "I have not a clue why my name is in there," Stewart told journalists in Rawalpindi. "I was shocked when I got a phone call telling me I was named and I have been in a state of shock since then. I'm disappointed, to put it politely, that my name is in the report. I cannot do anymore than categorically deny the allegations. Nobody has ever offered me any money or any presents for any information whatsoever." However, Stewart said he would cooperate with any investigative agency.

In Australia, Steve Waugh said he was upset that his brother Mark Waugh has been implicated in the interim report. Talking to reporters in Sydney, the Australian captain said "You can't just pretend it is not happening, we certainly talked about it. I feel very sorry for him at the moment. It's hard for myself and the family when you pick up a lot of headlines. It's not easy."

In South Africa, the United Cricket Board of South Africa president Percy Sonn on Friday said that it would take a miracle for the UCBSA to allow disgraced former captain Hansie Cronje back into the game. The board had officially banned Cronje on Thursday. Talking to a TV channel, Sonn said "Realistically speaking, I don't think that Hansie can come back to play or coach next week, or the week after that, or next year or the year after that, unless something miraculous happens."