Jadeja doesn't want to play for India

NEW DELHI, DEC. 5. All-rounder Ajay Jadeja, banned for five years by the cricket board for having nexus with bookies, today lashed out at the decision and vowed to appeal against it.

Jadeja said he did not want to play for the national side any more. ``They (BCCI) are not going to play me and I don't want to play for them,'' Jadeja told Star News.

Asserting that he would return to the Board to appeal against the decision, he said: ``I have the right to appeal and I will appeal. I have played for the Board and I want them to listen to me''.

Asked if he had applied political pressure on the Board to have his punishment whittled down, Jadeja said: ``I can't stop people from talking. I am the only one affected by the Board's decision''.

On whether he regretted any of his actions in the past, Jadeja said: ``probably yes... I do have regrets and the biggest regret is that playing cricket would be missing''. But he denied ever having underperformed in any match. ``I have played with the best of my ability''.

Prabhakar furious

Former all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar, who has been handed a five- year ban, today lashed out at the cricket board for ``equating'' him with Ajay Jadeja against whom there were ``far graver allegations and findings'' and said he expected a ``better reward'' for having blown the lid of the match-fixing scandal.

Prabhakar said the BCCI's anti-corruption Commissioner, Mr. K. Madhavan, and the CBI found no evidence against him of receiving money from bookies or of under-performance.

``The only count on which I have been found guilty by Mr. Madhavan is of having contact with bookies,'' he said and claimed that those contacts were made for purposes of investigation ``long after I had retired from competitive cricket''.

Prabhakar described the punishment meted out to him as ``unfortunate'' and said in a statement ``in spite of this, the BCCI chose to impose a five-year ban and equate me with Ajay Jadeja against whom there are far graver allegations and findings''.

He wished the former office-bearers of the Board notably Jagmohan Dalmiya and the then cricket manager Ajit Wadekar had been more sincere and keen to come down on match-fixing in 1994 itself when he first raised the issue.

``Yet, no matter what the Board does now, I believe my efforts to bring match-fixing to light have paid off,'' Prabhakar added.

Arbitrary: Ajay Sharma

Former Delhi captain Ajay Sharma, banned for life by cricket board, today described the decision as ``arbitrary and discriminatory''.

``On the face of it, the decision of the BCCI is arbitrary and discriminatory,'' Ajay Sharma told PTI here.

Sharma said he was waiting for the detailed order of the BCCI disciplinary committee before consulting his lawyer for further steps. ``I will be able to say anything only after receiving the detail order of the BCCI,'' he said.

Issue remains unresolved: Bharti

Asserting that issue of corrupt practices in cricket still remained unresolved, the Sports Minister, Ms. Uma Bharti, said the Government would soon convene a meeting of the cricket board and other sports bodies to bring about reforms and transparency in their activities.

Ms. Bharti told reporters here after a Cabinet meeting that the Government would discuss with those sports bodies ways to prevent recurrence of match-fixing in future which she termed a ``national crime''.

She said the action taken by cricket board against Mohd. Azharuddin and three other tainted cricketers for match-fixing was ``within its limitations and regulations'' but maintained that the question of such ``corrupt practices'' still remained ``like a demon''.

Asked whether there was any pressure on the cricket board to spare Jadeja, Ms. Bharti said, ``reports that the Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, had tried to influence the Board to let off Jadeja with a minimum punishment are baseless''.

- PTI

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