Aamir Sohail pays fine; fails to back up charges

Controversial Pakistan star Aamir Sohail finally saw the light, and not only responded to the summons by the disciplinary committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board to appear before it, but also paid into the PCB coffers the Rs 50,000 fine imposed on him for "acts of indiscipline".

Subsequently, committee chairman Talat Ali and member Ashraf Qureshi are understood to have grilled the cricketer for over an hour and a half, the focus of the interrogation being Sohail's charges, made earlier this year, that betting, bribery and match fixing were endemic in the upper echelons of Pakistan cricket.

It will be recalled that Sohail had, earlier, alleged that senior Pakistan players had a nexus with top bookmakers, that they had in the past taken bribes to either play badly or sit out crucial games, and that he had documentary evidence in support of these charges.

Asked by the two-member committee to produce his evidence, Sohail is understood to have laid before Ali and Qureshi a collection of newspaper clippings and two statements, both unsigned, purportedly written by former members of the Pakistan team.

The names of the two cricketers who purportedly wrote those statements has not been revealed.

Sohail is also understood to have named a few games that, according to him, had been fixed and told the committee that the truth of his allegations could be proved if videos of the game were seen. Asked to produce proof that the games in question had in fact been rigged, however, Sohail admitted that he had no positive proof. The Pakistan batting star is also understood to have told the committee that he had more evidence, but couldn't produce it at the time.

One such item of evidence, Sohail said, is an affidavit made by a former cricketer in the presence of three magistrates. Sohail admitted that the affidavit is unsigned, and in any event he did not produce it before the committee. Sohail added that the player in question has however admitted to accepting money to bowl badly, and informed the committee that the player concerned could be summoned to testify.

Given that Sohail has not effectively proved his charges, insiders reveal that Talat Ali's report, to be submitted to the PCB executive council on Saturday, will go against the cricketer. However, that in turn raises a problem - because if the report is adverse, the PCB will have no option but to reimpose the two-year ban clamped on him earlier, and which has been deferred pending the outcome of the disciplinary committee meeting.

Meanwhile, the team selection for the Asia Cup quadrangular, beginning in Colombo on July 14, has been deferred to Saturday. Chairman of selectors Salim Altaf and his colleague and coach, Haroon Rashid, are already in Lahore. The third selector, Zaheer Abbas, is expected in Lahore later Friday afternoon.

The 14-member squad is to be picked on Friday late evening and the list will be handed over to PCB chief executive Majid Khan, who will submit the list to the executive council for approval and formal announcement on Saturday.

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Sohail to put his money where his mouth is