KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shahryar Khan on Thursday rejected allegations by Khalid Latif’s lawyer that the board was trying to pressure the cricketer into confession in the PSL spot-fixing probe.
Dismissing the lawyer’s claims, Shahryar said the board had not pressured or forced any player to confess.
“Mohammad Irfan admitted his mistake but even he was not forgiven. We have not forced anyone,” the PCB chairman said.
Khalid Latif’s lawyer Badar Alam claimed earlier today that the PCB was harassing his client in order to force out a confession from him regarding his alleged involvement in the spot-fixing scandal.
Alam said the board had offered his client that he would be cleared if he accepted the allegations against him.
On Wednesday, the PCB’s legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi had said that it would be difficult for Khalid Latif to get a clean chit from the PSL spot-fixing tribunal as there were “massive proofs against him”.
Rizvi had said that the PCB’s point of view on the case had been submitted before the tribunal, further adding that further evidence against Latif had been presented.
He had remarked that there was no pressure on any player by the PCB.
Ready to play India in India
Khan said that the PCB is ready to play a series with India at their home.
“We are ready to play in India; although we will have a lot of security threats there, but we are ready to play in India if they offer it to us. Also, we are ready to face them in a third country (a neutral venue), but first they need to agree to play against us. They are not ready, so how can anything happen?”
PCB to avail services of Younis and Misbah
He also said that the PCB has prepared a plan to avail the services of veteran cricketers Younis Khan and Misbahul Haq.
“Decision on giving both the players responsibilities will be taken after taking their suggestions,” Khan said. Responding over a question on Shahid Afridi, he said that Afridi was a big player – his services for cricket will always be appreciated.
He also stated that though PCB wants a series with Bangladesh, however, Pakistan has played twice at their home. “We don’t want to play a series in Bangladesh for the third time.”