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Dungarpur to the defense

BCCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur on Wednesday came out in favour of Sunil Gavaskar, pooh-poohing former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfaraz Nawaz's accusation of match fixing as "garbage".

Sarfraz had, in course of an interview on Star Sports on the penultimate day of the ATC fixture between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, had termed Gavaskar and then Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal as the original match fixers.

In the interview, Nawaz said that Gavaskar and Iqbal had fixed the match in 1979 in Bombay and forced players to play though the wicket was wet.

Gavaskar is now contemplating a defamation suit against Sarfaraz.

Raj Singh, who was the manager to the Indian team then, said that both the teams were raring to get at each other. The Pakistanis wanted to confirm their superioirty achieved a year earlier at home and the Indians wanted to avenge it.

Raj Singh admitted that the track was like a minefield but added that Indians handled the situation better with Kapil Dev batting brilliantly and Dilip Doshi bowling well.

Dungarpur said Sarfaraz was just acting stupid, owing to his despair at being left behind by other cricketers of his time who have gone on to make good careers in media and elsewhere, and has been taking potshots at the likes of Imran and Gavaskar.

"Probably Sarfaraz could not digest the fact that Gavaskar today enjoys more goodwill than him (Sarfraz)," Raj Singh felt.

Meanwhile, according to a report reaching here, Nawaz is unable to cope with a storm created by himself. Right from a tea stall owner in Peshawar to a doctor in Lahore nd a businessman in Karachi has critisied Nawaz for defiling someone who has by his genuine feeling for Pakistani cricket's achievement won everybody's heart. Gavaskar was the only commentator who evaluated Pakistan's ability to win the 1992 World Cup and then joined Imran Khan in Lahore for celebrations. Just before Nawaz let fly his salvo, Gavaskar had in fact defended the tactics of Wasim Akram in chosing Sri Lanka to contest the final of the ATC.

Many Pakistanis also protested against the programme producer for inviting Sarfraz and interviewer Tony Greig for luring him into making senseless comments.

UNI