PCB chairman says the Australian tour is a chapter closed as no evidence to the claims was found
PCB chairman says the Australian tour is a chapter closed as no evidence to the claims was found |
| Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt |
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt has rubbished claims of match-fixing during Pakistan's disastrous tour of Australia even though the International Cricket Council has been investigating Pakistan's performance during the Sydney Test earlier this year.
Butt said the PCB had conducted its own inquiry on the team's performance in Australia and had already penalised players for their poor showing.
"The Australian tour chapter is now closed and we have finished our inquiry. We have found no evidence of any match-fixing during the tour," a defiant Butt told reporters after returning from London.
Pakistan were whitewashed in all the three formats -- Tests, ODIs and Twenty20s -- by Australia during the tour. But it was the New Year's Test match in Sydney which came under the scanner after Australia pulled off a remarkable come-from-behind 36-run victory in that game.
Stunned by the corruption allegations, Pakistan's parliamentary committee had summoned Cricket Board (PCB) chief Butt, tour coach Intikhab Alam and former captain Younus Khan to answer questions.
Butt, however, denied that the ICC was conducting its own independent inquiry into the matter based on Intikhab and former Pakistan bowling coach Aaqib Javed's statement before the PCB inquiry committee, where they raised suspicions about the performances of two players -- wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal and Rana Naved.
The PCB chief also refused to comment on the statements of officials and players made before the inquiry committee stating he had not seen the full recordings of the probe.
"We enforced all recommendations of the inquiry committee," Butt said.
Tafazzul Rizvi, the legal advisor of PCB who was a member of the inquiry committee, also said that so far they have found no evidence of match-fixing.
"We penalised the players according to our terms of reference. The ICC has its own anti-corruption and security unit to look into such matters and if there was anything wrong they would have contacted us," Rizvi said. On the recommendations of the inquiry committee, the PCB had banned and fined seven players in March and six of them have filed appeals against their punishments, including former captains Younus Khan and Shoaib Malik and allrounder Rana Naved.
