Karachi, Oct 7: Barely hours after his statement that the Pakistan cricket team threw away their Champions Trophy match against Australia, Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports MNA Jamshed Dasti did a complete volte-face and said he never accused the side of being involved in match-fixing.
 Dasti, whose statement created a stir last night, claimed he never said Pakistan was involved in match-fixing and his wordings were misunderstood by everyone.
 “I never said the Pakistani players indulged in any match-fixing against Australia or New Zealand. What I was trying to say has been completely misunderstood by everyone,” Dasti said on the Geo Super channel.
 He claimed all he wanted to say was that some people had called him up and told him about their concerns that Pakistan might have deliberately lost their matches to Australia and New Zealand.
 “What I was trying to say was that the Standing Committee is also concerned by these reports and it is fair to hold an inquiry into the allegations and for this purpose we intend to call the captain, coach and the Chairman of the (Pakistan Cricket) Board to a hearing soon,” Dasti said.
 He, however, continued his criticism of PCB and said the committee was unanimous that until Ejaz Butt was removed as Chairman of the board, there could be no improvement in Pakistan cricket.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 7 Oct 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 7 Oct 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 8 Oct 2009 00:00:00 IST