‘To bowl first was a team decision,Kambli was part of it’

As the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president and PILCOM convenor,Jagmohan Dalmiya had a first-hand experience of the incident and he simply rubbishses Kambli’s allegation.

“It’s absolutely rubbish. Someone has said about something which happened almost 20 years ago. Why should we give credence to that?” Dalmiya asks.

Former India spinner Venkatapathy Raju,who was in the playing XI in that match,concurs.

“It’s very unfortunate. If there was any foul play then Kambli too was a part of that and should be punished. The decision to field first after winning the toss was a collective decision. Only Navjot Siddhu said that we should bat first on that wicket. But every other member of the squad was in favour of bowling first. Sri Lanka were chasing very well in that tournament and we wanted to deny them that opportunity. I don’t know why Kambli has said this after so many years,” Raju told The Indian Express.

“A former ICC (anti-corruption) official has recently said that ‘match-fixing was rampant’ in the nineties. But after the controversy that broke out at the turn of the century,the BCCI has done very well to ensure that the Indian cricket moves into the right direction.

“Some excellent young players came and we eventually became the No. 1 team in the world. Despite the odd loss,the team is doing fairly well at the moment and there’s no point digging the dirt,” he added.