Haroon
Rasheed S/o Munawwar Rasheed
(Recorded
on 19th September, 1998)
In July
1997, I took over charge as coach of the senior Pakistan team. During my
tenure there were some matches which I as a cricketer felt should have
been won by Pakistan but they lost. In my opinion they were thrown away.
There was a one-dayer being played between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Colombo
in the Asia Cup 1997 in which Pakistan had to chase 239
and at one time (when) Salim Malik and Inzamam were batting, we felt Pakistan
would win the match very easily but there was some confusion between Malik
and Inzamam which resulted in the latter being run out. The call had been
made by Malik. Immediately after, Malik played a very irresponsible stroke
and got out. As a matter of fact, he threw his wicket away. Pakistan lost
this match by 9 runs. At that time I was present in the dressing room.
Inzamam told me they (he and Malik) had decided not to take risky runs
but Malik made a call to which he had to respond. In the same tournament
Rashid Latif came out with an interview in Outlook in which he accused
both Pakistani and Indian cricketers of indulging in match-fixing and throwing
away matches. We contacted Latif who through a fax message contradicted
some of the contents of the article and specifically stated he had never
accused Saeed Anwar of involvement in match-fixing. However, there was
no denial with respect to Malik and Akram. The next tournament was the
Sahara Cup in Toronto. In one match, India scored 208 runs. Malik and Saqlain
were batting well but again there was a mix-up which resulted in the latter
being run out... the call was made by Malik. In five overs Pakistan had
to score 20 runs for victory but Malik got out while playing a stroke which
as a cricketer I would say he threw away his wicket. The kind of stroke
he played was unnecessary because the runs could be scored without taking
any risk. There was a strange incident in the home one-day series against
India. In Karachi India had to score 16-17 runs in the last over which
was to be bowled by Saqlain who gave away the runs. Such bowling could
not be expected of a bowler of Saqlain's calibre. He conceded those runs
to Indian tailenders. In the triangular series which was arranged to celebrate
the golden jubilee of Pakistan's Independence, Akram was appointed captain.
During this period, there was division among members of the team into various
groups which kept accusing each other. On one occasion Akram changed the
batting order and batted ahead of Moin and Ijaz. In one match against Sri
Lanka, Ijaz was out of form and I suggested to Akram that Inzamam should
be sent ahead of Ijaz as he was in form. He didn't agree. Although Ijaz
scored 94 runs it was a slow innings and Pakistan scored less than what
was in our mind. Again Akram changed the batting order and went ahead of
other players mentioned above. As an ex-cricketer having remained in management
my own feeling is Akram, Ijaz and Malik have played irresponsibly, without
any planning. From all this, the possibility of their involvement in betting
and match-fixing can't be ruled out.
