PCB official accuses Intikhab of conspiracy

Karachi: A former senior official of the Pakistan Cricket Board has accused national team manager Intikhab Alam of lying and conspiring against former Test batsman Basit Ali by naming him in a match-fixing scandal.

Arif Ali Khan Abbasi who has held several important positions in the PCB told News One channel that after the tour of Sri Lanka in 1994, the manager, Intikhab Alam hatched a conspiracy against the then young member of the team, Basit Ali. Abbasi has no doubt that the 69-year old Intikhab was not fit to hold any important position in Pakistan cricket. "I still remember, it was during Singer Cup held in Sri Lanka in 1994. The manager Intikhab Alam approached me and revealed that Basit Ali had confessed to match-fixing. I assured Intikhab of appropriate action, however, to my surprise, he (Intikhab) did not quote the incident in his tour report," recalled Abbasi. In 1994-95, the Pakistan team participated in the Singer Trophy in which India, Sri Lanka and Australia also took part and the tournament matches came under scrutiny during the match-fixing inquiry held by the Justice Malik Qayyum judicial commission. "Upon inquiry, Intikhab said that the matter was for my consumption only, hence was not formally reported. Being the manager he should have mentioned the episode but he chose not to, subsequently I took action against Intikhab," Abbasi said.He further claimed that later Intikhab apologised to Basit Ali. "Basit himself told me that Intikhab called him up, almost after a decade after that Sri Lankan tour, and apologised to him," Abbasi added.But Intikhab, when contacted, rejected the allegations by Abbasi. "It’s absolutely baseless, he is lying to say the least. I don`t want to trigger a fresh controversy by getting into the details," he said. PTI