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Tendulkar, Azhar, Sandeep Patil meet Justice Chandrachud

Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar, former skipper Mohammed Azharuddin and former team coach Sandeep Patil on Thursday met Justice Y V Chandrachud who is investigating the matchfixing scandal. The inquiry was instituted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Tendulkar, the first to meet the judge in the morning, refused to comment on what had transpired during the meeting. Azharuddin too refused to speak to the media after the meeting. But when contacted later, he said that no sportsperson, to his knowledge, has ever dealt with gamblers.

It is only the burning desire of sportsmen to perform for his or her country that brings them success. "I am one of them," he said.

Addressing the media, Justice Chandrachud said he was satisfied with the progress of the inquiry and was confident that it will have a meaningful outcome. He refused to divulge further details.

Others who met the judge on Thursday include former wicket-keeper Nayan Mongia, D V Subbarao (team manager during the West Indies tour earlier this year) and former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar.

Justice Chandrachud is scheduled to meet the team's physiotherapist Ali Irani, who has accompanied the squad for the last four years. He is also scheduled to meet Indian vice-captain Ajay Jadeja later.

The judge was asked to inquire into Manoj Prabhakar's allegations that some Indian players had received bribes to lose matches. The former Supreme Court chief justice has met 15 cricketers and administrative managers so far; all of whom, he said, had co-operated with him. He added that he also wanted to meet some sports writers before completing his inquiry.

Explaining the delay in submitting his report, Justice Chandrachud said he did not think it right to proceed with the inquiry when the Indian team was playing in Sri Lanka, especially since the players are tense and under pressure.

He stated that the BCCI had asked him to go to Sri Lanka last month and even to Canada, where India will play Pakistan, "but to accept that would have added pressure on cricketers, besides being bad etiquette".

Justice Chandrachud said since Pakistani player Aamir Sohail had not called him up, there had been no meeting. Sohail had told the media that he was keen to meet the judge, presumably to brief him about the betting scandal.