| Pakistan coach Javed Miandad
has said he was shocked to learn about the extent to which the menace of
match-fixing had spread in cricket. Reacting to the CBI report on cricket
betting and match-fixing, which named former Pakistan captain Salim Malik
as having allegedly taken money from bookmaker Mukesh Gupta to fix the
Wills Super Cup match between Delhi and Habib Bank in 1991.
Miandad, who also played for the bank,
said he was not aware at all at that time that the match was being fixed.
"I never got such an impression at that time, we went out and did our
best, I remember it was a close match," Miandad was quoted as saying
by The News.
Miandad said he was surprised to read
about that match being fixed or Malik allegedly having taken money to do
the same, the newspaper wrote. The former Test captain and coach denied
vehemently that he was ever approached by any bookmaker to underperform or
fix a match with the help of other players. "No one ever approached
me with such an offer. Yes I did have a lot of friends wherever we went to
play cricket. But if someone had ever made any offer to me, I would have
given him a piece of my mind," he said. |
