NEW DELHI: The president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday vowed to maintain the "sanctity" of the game after meeting Pakistan`s cricket chief over the spot-fixing betting scandal.
Sharad Pawar held talks at his home in New Delhi with Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt to discuss allegations that Pakistan players were paid to bowl deliberate no-balls during a match in England last month.
"We will never tolerate any nonsense or corruption in the game of cricket. We want to maintain the sanctity of cricket," Pawar, who is also India`s agriculture minister, told reporters after the 90-minute talks.
Since the allegations were made, the ICC has been under fierce attack from critics who say it has failed to tackle corruption and illegal gambling in the sport.
Pakistan players Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt have all written to the ICC saying they will defend themselves over disciplinary action brought against them over the claims, their lawyers confirmed this week.
Ijaz Butt said they would remain suspended until a probe by British police was completed.
"The matter is under investigation. Until that investigation is completed, we cannot comment on it," he said. "The ICC has suspended the players. Unless the suspension is removed, they cannot play."
Pakistan`s tour of England has been overshadowed by newspaper allegations of a betting scam involving no-balls being deliberately bowled in the fourth Test at Lord`s.
The claims, published in the News of the World newspaper, led to the suspension of Pakistan Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Aamer and Asif by the ICC.
Tony Hill, one of the match umpires, revealed Thursday that he and colleague Billy Bowden suspected the no-balls were deliberate, but a tactic to unsettle the batsmen rather than a betting scam.
Many observers have pointed to the influence that India, which accounts for nearly 70 percent of the game`s global revenues, has over the ICC.
India is regarded as the hotbed for illegal betting syndicates who wage millions of dollars during a match.
The apparent failure of the ICC`s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit has been in the spotlight since the allegations of Pakistani "spot-fixing" -- when bets are made on individual balls or short passages of play.
The ACSU was set up in 2000 after a match-fixing scandal that led to life bans for Test captains Hansie Cronje (South Africa), Mohammad Azharuddin (India) and Salim Malik (Pakistan).
That scandal broke when New Delhi police, working on an unrelated extortion case, tapped a conversation between Cronje and an Indian bookmaker.
After his meeting with Pawar, Ijaz Butt said he had also requested that India revive full cricketing ties with Pakistan and organise a fixture as soon as possible.
India has declined to play Pakistan outside ICC tournaments since allegedly Pakistan-based militants launched attacks on Mumbai in 2008.
BDST: 2100HRS, September 16, 2010
