Imran rubbishes match-fixing talks by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Player:	Imran Khan
Event:	ICC Champions Trophy 2009/10

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DateLine: 7th October 2009

 

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan dismissed match-fixing allegations against the Pakistani team in the Champions Trophy.

 

"No, I don't think any match-fixing or hanky-panky took place. We were just too over-confident and complacent and we paid the price for it," Imran told Geo Super channel.

 

The Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports Jamshed Khan Dasti had earlier shaken the country claiming that Pakistan had deliberately lost the matches to Australia and New Zealand and the committee would investigate reports of fixed matches.

 

Imran though believes that there were pure cricketing reasons for Pakistan's failure and one of the major reasons was complacency.

 

"You cannot afford to be complacent against any side. We should not have lost to a weak team like New Zealand which had so many injury problems and they have only one world class performer in Daniel Vettori," he said.

 

"People cannot accept we lost to a team like New Zealand in such a big match," he said.

 

Imran was also critical of captain Younis Khan's performance in the tournament.

 

"He didn't lead from the front and if he was not fit, he should not have played. He is focusing only on is captaincy and not on his own batting. He has gone from a hero to zero in this tournament. He was disappointing and he needs to reassess his priorities," Imran said.