Intikhab
Alam S/o Nasir Uddin Khan
(Recorded
on 21st October, 1998)
I played
for Pakistan from '59 to '78. I was captain of Pakistan team for seven
years. I have been appointed as manager on and off for nearly 17 years.
In 1994 when Salim Malik was captain at Sharjah we reached the final. One
day before the final I started receiving calls from 6 pm onwards alleging
that the match had been fixed and 5/6 players were involved. These calls
continued till 10 pm but they did not disclose their names. I became worried
and called members to my room... where they assembled till 11.30 pm. I
impressed upon them the importance of winning the match which was the final
against India. I asked the liaison officer to bring a copy of the Quran
which he did the next day before the start of the match and at my instance
all team members took the oath that they would play to the best of their
abilities. Pakistan won the match. Thereafter we went to Sri Lanka. In
the Singer Cup our first match was against Australia whom we bowled out
for 166. Despite being 80 for 1 at one stage we lost. Naturally, I was
very concerned. I called a meeting in the dressing room. I told them exactly
what I thought of them. Thereafter we went to the hotel where I received
a telephonic call. The caller did not disclose his name,
but he told me he had lost Rs 40 lakh and that 4-5 players had sold themselves
out. The caller talked to me for an hour and was furious. I tried to pacify
him and said that in the absence of concrete proof I could not take any
action. I called 2/3 players to my room. Out of them, one was Basit Ali
who confessed he was involved in match-fixing. I personally felt he made
that disclosure as his conscience was pricking. I also called Waqar Younus
and Salim Malik who denied the allegation. In the meantime, Asif Iqbal
flew to Colombo from Washington, though he had nothing to do. He told me
bluntly bookies had lost Rs 40 lakh and they wanted to recover the same
at any cost. I had known Asif Iqbal since very long and was shocked to
hear what he said to me. I thought he might have talked to Salim Malik,
the captain. I therefore called Salim Malik and discussed the matter with
him. The next day he left Colombo and sought my permission to ring me up
occasionally in order to inquire about the wicket whenever a match was
to be played. After this, I became suspicious of his character. In the
'94 series against Australia, Asif Iqbal rang me up. Since I had doubts
about him, I provided him with wrong information...he never rang me up
after that. We went to New Zealand after that. In the last Test at Christchurch,
New Zealand had to score 315/316 runs for victory which they did and we
lost the match. I had my doubts about that match. Had we maintained the
standards as we did in the past we would have won. In South Africa, we
reached the final of the Mandela cup. Salim Malik came back to the dressing
room after the toss. He informed us that he had elected to field first,
on which Rashid Latif got furious and enraged. He took off his pads and
went straight to Salim Malik saying he would not play. Ultimately, I prevailed
upon him. We lost that match. After we lost, I again received a telephonic
call alleging that 7/8 players were involved in match-fixing. He gave the
names of Basit Ali, Salim Malik, Akram. Inzamam-ul-Haq, Ijaz, Waqar, Mushtaq
and Moin Khan. Of these players, Moin Khan had remained sick and hardly
played any match on this tour. Both Rashid and Waqar suffered some back
problem. Waqar had stress fracture and was advised rest. Rashid was given
some medicines and advised rest. He was reluctant to go to Zimbabwe. I
had a long discussion with him. He informed me that Salim Malik was not
an honest person and was involved in match-fixing etc. To be very honest,
in my opinion match-fixing has been taking place. I am writing a book in
which I have stated so. I felt that some of the matches could not have
been lost. In order to fix a match there must be 5/6 players involved as
one player cannot do so on his own. I have my suspicions about the players
named above. Out of the players whom I consider absolutely clean are Rameez
Raja, Aaquib Javed, Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar.
