World Cup final ``suspicious,'' says ex-Pakistan boss

[ehsan]

The former chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board Majid Khan told a World Cup inquiry commission on Saturday that he believed some Pakistani players were involved in match-fixing.

Majid, who appeared before the Justice Karamat Bhandari commission at Lahore High Court, also expressed his suspicions over the legality of the 1999 World Cup final between Pakistan and Australia and called for an investigation into it.

Pakistan lost the final of the tournament held in England by eight wickets.

``The commission today heard and recorded statements of Majid Khan, Javed Miandad, Khalid Mehmood, Dr Zafar Altaf and Riaz Sami, the former high commissioner in the United Kingdom,‘’ a court official told Reuters from Lahore.

``The judge has on the basis of what he heard today summoned six members of the national team and former Pakistan coach Mushtaq Muhammed to the next hearing scheduled on October 20th,‘’ said the official.

The commission has summoned Wasim Akram, captain in the last World Cup, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed Anwar, Moin Khan, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq.

The government appointed the inquiry commission to probe into allegations that Pakistan played fixed matches against Bangladesh and India in the World Cup.

The court official confirmed that Majid had said in a written statement that he believed some players were involved in match-fixing and expressed regret that no action had been taken against them.

``(Majid) also asked the commission to summon some reporters who covered the World Cup and who he said had more information on the suspected matches and the final,‘’ said the official.

He said Mehmood, chairman of the Board during the World Cup, had dismissed all match-fixing rumours.

``Khalid Mehmood pointed out that it was all rumours and nothing else and he didn’t believe the two matches were fixed.

``He said that several inquiries had been held in Pakistan and abroad and nothing concrete or substantial had come from them to convict any player of match-fixing,‘’ the official said.

Altaf, Pakistan’s manager in the World Cup, also denied the allegations and claimed that the match against Bangladesh was lost because of a sub-standard wicket.

Altaf said Bangladesh had taken advantage of the wicket and there was no truth in rumours that the match was fixed to support Bangladesh’s cause for test status.

Miandad, the former test captain and coach, told Reuters he had nothing new to tell the commission and he had made it clear he knew nothing about the matches being fixed since he was not involved with the team at the time.

``I told the commission I had heard about matches being fixed, but had never practically been witness to this and most of the allegations were based on hearsay,‘’ Miandad said.

[Ali_R]

Jealous Ppl nothing to do else then blaim other…

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/nook.gif

---

*“na maiN momin vich masiitaaN, na maiN muusaa, na fir’aun!”
*

[ManiaX]

Majid has a big mouth. Yesterday, Waqar, Saeed, Akram, Inzy and Moin were questioned by the court. They had a clown, also known as Abdul Qadir assisting the court in questioning, which goes to show how stupid all this is. This is what the players had to say :

SAEED ANWAR: The left-handed opener said when Wasim Akram won the toss, the team felt that they would bundle out Bangladesh for 50/60 runs as the conditions were ideal and ball was swinging. "But our bowlers couldn't control the ball."

While agreeing with Justice Bhandari that Pakistan were bad chasers, Saeed said the decision was also taken keeping in mind that since tougher matches were in store in the Super Six stage, the experiment was worth a try.

Saeed had stroked a century when Pakistan chased the target in the semifinal against New Zealand.

Saeed said he didn't see any abnormality in the defeat against India. "Our opponents knew know that we are bad chasers and they won the toss and we came under pressure while chasing."

Explaining his cheap dismissal in the final when he was out first ball after changing the grip of the bat, Saeed explained: "At that time people thought that I had been approached by bookmakers. But there was nothing of that sort of a thing at all.

"I wanted to play the final with the same bat with which I scored two centuries. But the grip of the bat got loose and that was the only reason I changed the grip. Unfortunately I got out off the very next delivery and people started to hurl ridiculous match-fixing allegations against me."

WAQAR YOUNIS: Waqar Younis told the honourable court that the only reason for defeat against Bangladesh was complacency and over-confidence. By the time we realized that the match was slipping out of hands, it was too late to recover.

"Since it was my first match in the World Cup, I was more concerned about my own performance. The conditions were overcast and the skipper (Wasim Akram) thought bowling first was the right choice," Waqar said, adding that he took two wickets for 34 runs and was easily the best bowler.

"I did not hear from any quarter - either from dressing room or at the ground that we had decided to lose against Bangladesh before the match. I did not hear that there were any instructions from the government of Pakistan to lose the game."

On the match against India, Waqar recalled that Pakistan's history against India in World Cup was not good. Pakistan had also lost 1992 and 1996 World Cup matches to the traditional rivals.

"I have no explanation why we lost against them. I think we played well against India, but unfortunately we lost the match."

INZAMAM-UL-HAQ: Inzamam-ul-Haq, during his testimony, suggested that any player against whom there was slightest of doubt, should be withdrawn from the Sharjah-bound squad and not allowed to play until investigations were completed and he given a clean sheet.

"I don't think players can perform under so much pressure. All those players against whom inquiry is going, whether it's me or anybody, should not be included in the team at the moment unless and until the inquiry finishes," Inzamam said.

Inzamam, on the match against Bangladesh, observed the players didn't focus themselves on the game. He didn't blame the pitch but felt that Pakistan buckled under pressure after losing three quick wickets.

"The pitch was normal, but it does always happen whenever we chase and lose two or three quick wickets we struggle. And that exactly happened against Bangladesh."

Inzamam complimented Bangladesh for putting up a good show. "It's not that we didn't bowl well. Bangladesh batsmen batted well against us. "As far as game against India is concerned I don't think any ulterior motive can be attributed to Pakistan team," he concluded.
MOIN KHAN: Moin Khan disagreed with team manager Dr Zafar Altaf's observation that substandard pitch was to be blamed for the defeat against Bangladesh. He told the honourable judge that the captain, senior players and he himself had decided to chase the target if Pakistan won the toss.

"We had played four stressful matches before the game against Bangladesh which we won while defending totals. This time we decided to chase the target. But I think lost because we bowled badly," Moin said, while admitting that complacency was the major factor of team's defeat. "The team, including myself, took the match lightly."

Moin, to a question, said no irrelevant man visited the dressing room during or after the match.

Wasim Akram, in his post-match interview at Northampton, had said that Pakistan lost to its brothers. When Justice Bhindari sought Moin's point of view on Akram's statement, Moin said that he didn't see anything foul in the remarks.

The outspoken Moin blamed former Test cricketers for hurling match-fixing allegations against current Test players. "When they were in the team, everything was okay to them. When they lose their places, they start throwing baseless allegations."

On the match against India at Old Trafford, Moin said Pakistan players have always played to win. "We tried our best against India in the World Cup. But I think it was one of our bad days and nothing more than that."

[fakeer]

when we won the world cup in 1992 everyone ignored the matches lost in the start (including 74 runs all out against england which ended up in a tie cuz of rain).now when we won the start matches in in 99 and lost the last important ones everyones talking about match fixing...come on guys we wont win every time .. other teams play matches to win too ..