Written by: Express News Service
2 min readKolkataNov 19, 2011 12:47 AM IST
First published on: Nov 19, 2011 at 12:47 AM IST
Former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin has lashed out at Vinod Kambli for hinting that Indias 1996 World Cup semi-final match could have been fixed,saying the allegations have been made by a person who lacks character.
Absolutely rubbish,whatever he Kambli is talking. He doesnt know what he is talking,when you have people who have no character and no background come on television demeaning all the players who played in the team,it is totally disrespectful and its very sad, Azhar said.
About the decision to field first in the match,Azhar said it was a collective decision. May be he mustve been sleeping during the meeting, he added. Kambli had raised suspicion on the 1996 World Cup semi-final between India and Sri Lanka and said he found something amiss in the game.
Azhar also refuted claims that Kambli was made a scapegoat,saying the cricketer got enough chances to prove himself. He has not been made a scapegoat. Everybody knows how he played his cricket and what he used to do. He got selected again in 1998 but got injured in one of the matches where he was substituting for some player, Azhar said. I think if he had taken his cricket seriously he wouldnt be in this position now, the former captain added.
Jagmohan Dalmiya,president of Cricket Association of Bengal CAB at that time,denied any foul play. Its absolutely rubbish. Someone has said about something which happened almost 15 years ago. Why should we give credence to that? Dalmiya said. And former India spinner Venkatapathy Raju,on field in that semifinal,agrees. Its 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 was a collective decision. Then manager of the Indian team Ajit Wadekar too rejected Kamblis statements.
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