Recalling the Sri Lankan tour of 1994, the former chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Arif Ali Khan Abbasi has accused Intikhab Alam of hatching a conspiracy against the then young member of the team, Basit Ali. Abbasi minced no word in declaring the 47-test veteran as misfit for a responsible post.
“I still remember, it was during Singer Cup held in Sri Lanka in 1994. The manager Intikhab Alam approached me and revealed that Basit Ali had confessed to match-fixing. I assured Intikhab of appropriate action however, to my surprise, he (Intikhab) did not quote the incident in his tour report,” Abbasi said in a television interview.
In1994-95, the Pakistan team participated in the Singer Trophy in which India, Sri Lanka and Australia also took part. “Upon inquiry, Intikhab said that the matter was for my consumption only, hence was not formally reported. Being the manager he should have mentioned the episode but he chose not to, subsequently I took action against Intikhab,” maintained Arif Abbasi.
Abbasi further revealed that Intikhab did apologise to Basit Ali as well on the incident. “Basit himself conveyed it to me that Intikhab Alam called him up, almost after a decade of that Sri Lankan trip, and duly apologised to him,” added Abbasi.
On the other hand Intikhab Alam categorically turned down the allegations leveled by the former PCB chief executive. “Its absolutely baseless. He is lying to say the least. I don’t want to trigger afresh controversy by getting into the details,” Intikhab Alam said.
Intikhab was Pakistan’s first One Day International cricket captain, and later he was appointed team manager a number of times. He is currently serving as the Director Academies in the Pakistan Cricket Board.
It is worth a mention here that according to media reports, Intikhab Alam did disclose before an inquiry commission that Basit, during the Singer Trophy, said he had been involved in the wrongdoing.
