Ijaz Butt and Sharad Pawar vow to clamp down on fixers
A crucial meeting between Chairman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780.
The two leaders claimed that they were keen on cleansing the game and getting rid of corrupt players and officials; at the end of the meeting Butt faced a grilling session from members of India media.
The Chief of PCB remained defiant in the wake of the onslaught, he maintained that he had not asked ICC for any leniency on the tainted trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif who are currently suspended
for their alleged involvement in spot fixing during the fourth and final test that was played at Lords.
"Prima facie there are some allegations and we have suspended the players on the basis of that," the ICC supremo added.
He added that the governing body of the game was keeping stock of the situation and were getting constant updates from all parties involved which was a clear indication of their commitment to get to the root of
the problem.
"http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Scotland-c756 Yard has permitted them to go back to Pakistan and the PCB has also promised to make them available to the investigators if required. Nobody is playing hide and seek”, he stressed that the Anti Corruption
Unit of ICC was also working earnestly on getting to the depth of the scandal and unearthing the names of all parties involved.
"A major investigation agency is carrying out the probe and that will not take long. Neither the PCB nor ICC will interfere in the process."
On the other hand Butt reiterated his pledge to clear the name of Pakistan cricket and cleanse the very foundation of the game in the country.
"As far as we are concerned, there is no tolerance at all", he said, the former test cricketer brushed aside claims from certain quarters of Pakistani media that the spot and match fixing scandal was a conspiracy
of the Indian media and intelligence agencies. "I don't believe in any conspiracy theory. I am a businessman and a cricket administrator." On the other hand Powar vowed to work closely with Pakistan Cricket Board in rooting out the menace adding that the
ICC had respect for Pakistan cricket yet it needed co-operation from them in all aspects of the investigations.
"The ICC takes a collective decision and we will not tolerate any nonsense or corruption. All the boards are supporting us in preserving the sanctity of the game."
The visit of Ijaz Butt comes in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal which rocked the world of cricket when an English tabloid claimed that the trio of Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt spot fixed the
test at Lords and deliberately bowled no-balls, subsequently they were suspended by the ICC amid calls from various quarters of strong action against them.
Meanwhile Ijaz Butt has also asked Sharad Pawar to help arrange cricket matches between Pakistan and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 attacks, which suspended diplomatic ties
between the two nuclear nations that have a long history of armed and diplomatic stand-offs.
It remains to be seen as to what the outcome of the meeting is since the PCB has not enjoyed the best of relations with ICC especially under the leadership of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128 who has long remained staunch and unduly
stubborn in his conduct often irritating the ICC leadership and fellow Board members.
It was also learnt that the Anti Corruption Unit of ICC was to take its own sweet time in their ongoing probe; hence the issue is set to linger on for a considerable time yet.
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