Azhar lucky not to be in jail — Border

Border, now an National selector, said he had nothing personal against Azharuddin, whom he played against many times during his 156 Test match career.

“I like Mohammad Azharuddin as a fellow and to see him involved is shattering,” he said.

“How they (Azharuddin, Ajay Sharma, Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar, who were also banned) let themselves get involved in this, I just don’t know.”

Border said the life ban was not a severe punishment because “at 38 Azhar is finished anyway.

“But just the stigma that will be associated with it is bad enough.”

Morarka flays BCCI action

JODHPUR: Cricket Board vice president Kamal Morarka lashed out at the action taken by the board against guilty players terming it “hasty” and the whole procedure “jerky”.

“There was undue haste in hanging the players,” Morarka, who skipped the disciplinary committee meeting in Chennai on Tuesday, said.

Morarka, widely in news for his soft stance towards the players named in CBI report, however, reserved his comments on the quantum of punishment meted out the players.

“They (BCCI) should have weighed the pros and cons before announcing their decision. However, their decision is like a judgement of the court and unless I read this judgement, I can not comment on it,” Morarka, also the vice president of Rajasthan Cricket Board, said.

Morarka, recently at the centre of a controversy which flared from his alleged remark that there was “more corruption in the CBI than anywhere else,” said he was not aware of the procedure which preceded BCCI decision of banning and suspending the players.

To a question, Morarka said he was not aware of any meeting of the board to be held in near future.

ED to swing into action

NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it would soon initiate action against the tainted cricket players who are alleged to have received certain payments in foreign currencies and has already examined some bookies in this connection.

The move comes close on the heels of the CBI report on betting and match-fixing which had been sent to the directorate for necessary action.

Official sources said the ED was looking into the CBI allegations that some cricket players had been paid in foreign currencies.

The sources said some bookies had also been examined by the ED in this connection which could lead to filing of cases against some cricketers.

The sources said the findings of the ED sleuths were being evaluated by the legal cell of the department.

The directorate might seek a clarification from the CBI officials in certain cases for which the premier investigating agency has already agreed.

CBI’s special director G Achari had said earlier it was for the ED to find out whether a case could be filed against some players who had allegedly received payments in foreign currencies.

ED will also seek CBI’s help in having the original statements of the bookies as only a part of it had been reproduced in the agency’s report. The sources said this would also help ED in corroborating the statements made by the bookies before the directorate.

The CBI sources said full text of the statements had been withheld because of further investigations.

Meanwhile, the Union Sports Ministry has forwarded a copy of the CBI report to the Finance Ministry, which would soon be receiving an appraisal report on raids conducted by the Income Tax authorities on the premises of some cricketers and others on July 20.

Income tax authorities are also preparing the appraisal report on the cricketers raided by the department it will be ready shortly and the report on the bookies and other associates would be completed by the year end.

Melick to probe Mark’s finances

SYDNEY: The Australian Cricket Boards’s special investigator into match-fixing, Greg Melick, who is leaving for India on Saturday, may seek an independent financial audit of Mark Waugh, should he find enough evidence against the batsman, media reports said on Thursday.

Melick, a Sydney-based barrister and former member of the National Crime Authority, will accompany the head of International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit Sir Paul Condon to Chennai and Delhi to discuss with investigative officers and witnesses in the wake of life bans imposed on Mohammed Azharuddin and Ajay Sharma.

During the course of inquiry into match-fixing, India’s investigative agency CBI reported suspicions surrounding leading non-Indian players based on the evidence of bookmaker Mukesh Gupta, who also named Mark Waugh and West Indian Brian Lara.

Gupta said he paid Waugh $20,000 for information, apayment much higher from the one that Waugh confessed to receiving in Colombo in 1994.

Melick is trying to establish whether this is a fresh incident or whether Waugh and Gupta are quibbling over amounts, the newspaper said.

It is still unclear whether Gupta is the man who met and paid Waugh in Colombo or another bookmaker altogether.

ACB had earlier said it would consider investigation into Waugh’s finances but this would have to be done with his approval.

Pak has no alternative plan: Rana

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board Director Brigadier Munawar Rana said cricket can serve as a binding force between the people of the subcontinent that is why it was insisting India should tour Pakistan this winter.

Rana insisted that though all sports played an important role in resolving disputes between countries, cricket in this region particularly had a lot of healing power, owing to the passionate following for it in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The PCB director, however, said so far no alternative programme had been finalised in the wake of the cancellation of the Indian tour.

Caught in a piquant situation where Bangladesh government had also shown reluctance in permitting Pakistan playing a two Test series in Dhaka, Rana said though he was in the know of the development PCB had not yet looked into the matter.

“So far we have not discussed the report. We will belooking at it when we have our next meeting soon. Obviously whatever happened in 1971 was very unfortunate and everyone regrets it. But the PCB policy remains that sports should not be mixed with politics.”

A report quoting Bangladesh Cricket Board President Sabir Hussain Chowdhry said Pakistan tour’s in January was in doubt following controversial remarks of an Islamabad diplomat.

The diplomat has since then been called back to Pakistan after a strong protest from the Bangladesh government on his remarks pertaining to the 1971 events.