Azhar rubbishes Kambli's 'fixing' claims

Former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin on Friday has rubbished allegations by Vinod Kambli that India's 1996 World Cup semifinal match against could have been fixed.

"Absolutely rubbish, whatever he (Kambli) is talking. He doesn't know what he is talking, when you have people who have no character and no background come on TV and talk absolute rubbish in front of the nation and demeaning all the players who played in the team, it is totally disrespectful and its very sad," a livid Azhar told reporters.

Kambli, a former Indian cricketer who has often been embroiled in controversies both on and off the field, on Thursday raised suspicion on the 1996 World Cup semifinal and said he found "something amiss" in the game especially regarding the decision to field first at Eden Gardens.

Azharuddin, who was the Indian captain at that time, said the decision to field first was a collective decision.

"May be when he was sitting in the meeting, he must have been sleeping," he added.

Azharuddhin, however, refuted all the allegations levelled against him saying it was a team decision to field after winning the toss.

"It was a team decision which was taken by all the team members that when we win the toss we will field. Whatever he is talking is absolutely rubbish and nonsense".

He also refuted the claims that Kambli was made a scapegoat, saying the cricketer got enough chances to prove himself but failed to capitalise on the opportunities.

"He is not made a scapegoat. First of all the way he played his cricket, everybody knows how he played his cricket and what he used to do. So he cannot say he has been made a scapegoat, because he got selected again in 1998 but got injured in one of the matches where he was substituting for some player, I don't know when...in Cuttack or some other place," Azharuddin said.

"I think if he had taken his cricket seriously he wouldn't be in this position now," the former captain added."

Azharuddhin, who was slapped a lifetime ban for match-fixing which was later rescinded, said the only reason behind India's defeat against Sri Lanka in the contentious semifinal match at Eden Gardens was that the team did not perform up to the mark.

"We played badly, we lost the match. There is nothing to do with toss or batting first or fielding first. If you don't play well you lose the match, as simple as that," he said.

The cricketer also rebutted the call for a probe into the match saying will you have a probe for every match India lost.

"Why should there be a probe after so many years. What is the probe you are talking about, I don't know why people talk about this probe, then for every match there is probe," said Azharuddin.

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