Azhar remains incommunicado

Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin remains incommunicado since being named in the Central Bureau of Investigation report on match-fixing.

His younger brother Abrar said Azhar is not willing to make any statement or comment.

"I have spoken to him and he expressed his unwillingness to make any statement at this stage," Abrar said.

The Hyderabadi batsman remained out of bounds to media personnel who gathered at his Banjara Hills residence for his reaction.

Earlier in the day, he visited his ailing mother at a private hospital in Hyderabad.

'I am innocent,' says Jadeja

In Jammu, cricketer Ajay Jadeja expressed ignorance about his name being mentioned in the CBI report and said he is totally innocent.

"Whatever I've come to know is from the media only. I am innocent," the former India allrounder said.

Jadeja is one of the players named by the CBI in its report submitted to Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. The report says betting on one-day international cricket matches run into "hundreds of crores".

The investigating agency says: "Betting on cricket in India, in terms of monetary turnover and volume of transactions, is perhaps the biggest organised racket." It adds that as per rough estimates, the turnover on account of betting "on any one-day international match anywhere in the world runs into hundreds of crores".

Jadeja denied he had ever been questioned by the CBI or even asked to appear before it.

"If the CBI asks, I'll not hesitate to appear before it. If any charge is proved against me, I will respect the law as I am a law-abiding citizen," he said.

Jadeja, who was dropped from the team for the recent series in Kenya and Sharjah, however, made it clear that no ban has been imposed on him by the BCCI.

"I was dropped because of my poor performance and when I improve my performance I will be back in the team," he said, criticising the media for sensationalising the whole match-fixing issue.

"When allegations were being made against Kapil Dev, the newspapers carried them on the front pages but now that he has been found innocent, he has been relegated to the back pages," Jadeja said.

Ex-physio Irani's whereabouts not known

In Bombay, efforts to contact the Indian team's former physio Ali Irani, who has also been named in the CBI report, failed.

A relative of Irani said the family is not aware of his whereabouts.

Mail Cricket Editor