LAHORE - Pakistan's former Test batsman Basit Ali Monday stuck to his earlier allegations that a match between Karachi and Sialkot in the recent National Twenty20 Championship was fixed.
Basit stuck to his claims when he appeared before the three-member inquiry tribunal here at the Gaddafi Stadium. The tribunal that includes the security manager of the board, former Test players Shafiq Ahmed, GM domestic cricket, and Ali Naqvi was formed by the PCB to probe into the allegations made by Basit recently.
Pakistan all-rounder and captain of the Sialkot team, Shoaib Malik and other officials also appeared before the inquiry committee. "The committee asked me to furnish evidence that the match was fixed. But I have told them that even if hard evidence is not available as a former player one can sense when something is wrong in a match," Basit told reporters after the hearing.
"I told them that I had been first informed about the match being fixed by the coach of the Sialkot team Ijaz Ahmed Junior who has also been called by the committee," Basit said.
The former Test player said he did not wish to harm Pakistan cricket but only wanted the truth to come out. "I felt something was not right in that match and when Ejaz also spoke on similar lines I had to speak out the truth," Basit added.
To a query regarding Pakistan opening match of the Asia Cup against Sri Lanka, Basit anticipated a close match between defending champions Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Asia Cup at Fatullah, Bangladesh and said the green shirts were the favourite to win the encounter.
"Pakistan team is a combination of senior and junior and in my opinion our team has all the potential to give tough time to Lanka," he said here on Monday Gaddafi Stadium.
Basit said Pakistan team had the advantages of good batting and bowling line as efforts have been made to gel experience with youth to get desired results. "I think that the absence of Lankan reliable batsman, Kumar Sangakara will be beneficial for the Pak team and Pak bowlers will be under less pressure due to this aspect," he asserted.
He said that even if the conditions were not conducive at Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium for Pakistan, even then the green shirts had bright chance of striking a win against Lanka because of in depth batting and bowling.