Azhar to challenge ban
in Andhra HC

Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin will challenge the life ban, imposed on him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal, in the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

"The writ petition in this regard, seeking quashing of the life ban imposed on Azharuddin has been finalised and would soon be filed in the Andhra Pradesh High Court," senior advocate H R Bharadwaj said on Thursday.

The main ground to be taken before the High Court in the petition would be questioning the legal value of the CBI report, he said.

"The CBI followed no established procedure while conducting the probe," Bharadwaj said.

"The CBI report on betting and match-fixing was neither an investigation nor a proper inquiry," he added.

When told that the BCCI decision was handed down only after the board's vigilance commissioner K Madhavan had endorsed the findings of the CBI, the advocate said: "Madhavan was nobody to conduct the inquiry. He had no jurisdiction to take up such a probe.

"It is only the cricket board which is authorised to conduct the probe. Hence the punishment given to Azharuddin is illegal," he contended.

The former skipper was banned for life by the BCCI after Madhavan had interrogated him following the CBI report.

The CBI, in its 162-page report to the government, had alleged that Azharuddin had "fixed" cricket matches with the help of Ajay Jadeja and Nayan Mongia for large sums, and also listed England's Alec Stewart, Australia's Mark Waugh as well as Sri Lanka's Arjuna Ranatunga among the foreign players who were either offered or paid money by bookies.

Azharuddin, who played 413 one-day internationals and Test matches for India before being dropped from the team in wake of the match-fixing allegations, had, as alleged by the CBI, named his former team mates Jadeja and Mongia as being involved with him in fixing matches.

Mail Cricket Editor