Pak Parliamentary committee summons Younus, Butt

Match-fixing has returned to haunt Pakistan cricket with the parliamentary committee on sports summoning PCB chief Ejaz Butt, captain Younus Khan and coach Intikhab Alam to seek explanation for the team's Champions Trophy loss to Australia after allegations of deliberate underperformance.

A senior parliamentarian, who heads the national assembly standing committee on sports, has accused the team of deliberately losing to Australia in the Champions Trophy in a group match.

Jamshed Khan Dasti said the standing committee would summon Butt, Younus and Alam shortly to explain the team's performance in the Champions Trophy.

"There is evidence that the team lost the match to Australia on purpose. It underperformed. Then against New Zealand also there are signs the team didn't want to win," Dasti alleged.

"We have been told by some respected and senior people and we are also trying to collect evidence that there might have been some hanky panky in the match against Australia and New Zealand," Dasti claimed.

Pakistan's last-ball defeat to Australia put India out of the Champions Trophy while their defeat to New Zealand in the semifinal came as a surprise to many.

Dasti lashed out at Butt and the team for disappointing the nation.

"I can say we lost to Australia on purpose. And the team's performance against New Zealand was zero. We will get to the bottom of this whole affair and find out the truth the nation must know the truth of what happened in South Africa," he said.

Dasti said the standing committee would not allow corruption in cricket.

"We want to see changes in the board and Butt must go because as it is he is too old for this job," he added. 

Dasti said he would issue a notification in two days time summoning the captain and coach and board Chairman to  explain themselves before the committee. 

"We have heard a lot about match fixing allegations some people are telling us things and we also sense team didn't perform well on purpose. So we want to find out the truth," he said. 

The Pakistan Cricket Board, however, threw its weight behind the players, dismissing match-fixing allegations.

"The team played well and tried hard. It is unfortunate they couldn't qualify for the final which every player wanted to do," PCB General Manager (Media) Nadeem Sarwar said.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan also dismissed match-fixing allegations and felt Pakistan lost because of the players' over-confidence.

"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 said.

According to him, Pakistan lost solely because of 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.