Call for probe into presence of bookies in Pak team Colombo hotel

Lahore, Aug.1 (ANI): Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials have demanded an inquiry over reports of presence of some alleged bookies in the Colombo hotel where the Pakistani team stayed during the Test series last month.

Former PCB chief Tauqir Zia asked the board to carry out an independent inquiry into the issue.

"I think it is best if the PCB carried out independent investigation to find out who these people were so that speculations could be laid to rest and we don't have more match-fixing rumours," said Zia.

Former chief selector Abdul Qadir raised questions over contradictory statements being made by captain Younis Khan and team manager Yawar Saeed over the issue.

"Younis is saying something else and Yawar the opposite which itself is suspicious to me. The board must hold an inquiry and find out the facts of this whole incident," The Daily Times quoted Qadir, as saying.

Meanwhile, PCB chief Ijaz Butt has admitted that there were some outsiders present on the same floor on which the Pakistan team was staying.

Butt said the issue was a closed chapter now as it was sorted out then and there, after the 'outsiders' were shifted to another floor following Saeed's intervention.

"Our team manager learnt of something that was not right and immediately set the matter right and it is closed now," Butt told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has refused to comment on the issue, saying its Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) is aware about it.

Sources said ACU security officer Ravi Swami, who is in India, was looking into the incident. (ANI)