Azhar and I were made scapegoats, says Salim Malik

Saying that he and former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin were made scapegoats because they didn’t ‘‘have much cricket left’’ in them, former Pakistan batsman Salim Malik denied he was involved in match-fixing at any stage in his career.

Speaking to newspersons here, Malik said, ‘‘Our (his and Azhar’s) respective boards knew our careers were coming to an end and there wasn’t much cricket left in us.’’

Saying that race was part of the issue, Malik said, ‘‘The ICC scrutinises only the Asian teams but turns a blind eye when other countries are involved.”

‘‘If we were to be white-skinned,’’ he said, ‘‘then there may not have been so much of scrutiny. Like Shane Warne of Australia is still playing and so is South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs.’’