Sachin suspected Azhar's
involvement with bookies

Master batsman Sachin Tendulkar told the Central Bureau of Investigation that during his tenure as captain he felt that Mohammad Azharuddin was not putting in 100 per cent effort and suspected that his predecessor was involved with some bookies.

He divulged this information to the CBI team, which met him in Bombay, after he was asked if he suspected the involvement of any Indian player in match-fixing.

About the India-West Indies match at Kanpur in 1994, when Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia batted slowly, Tendulkar stated that he was the vice-captain during that match and was absolutely sure that there were no instructions from the team management for Prabhakar or Mongia to bat slowly.

Sachin said he was so upset with their approach that he did not talk to them after the match.

Prabhakar had later claimed that Mongia had informed him about the management's instruction to play slowly and not to lose their wicket. Mongia did not confirm who had given such instructions.

In a disclosure which cleared the air around the country's best all-rounder Kapil Dev, Tendulkar told the investigating agency that the decision against enforcing the follow-on in the Test match against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in 1999 was the team management's and not of any individual.

The one-day record holder for maximum centuries said the decision was taken jointly by him, coach Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Ajay Jadeja, since the bowlers, especially Javagal Srinath, had insisted that they were very tired.

Kapil was being held responsible for the decision as reports had indicated that the captain, Tendulkar, had stoutly opposed the decision of not enforcing the follow-on. The media also carried reports that the decision was guided by bookies.

The 162-page CBI inquiry report says: ''By the end of the third day's play when New Zealand had lost around six wickets, Sachin had thought to himself that he would enforce a follow-on the next day. However, the New Zealand innings dragged on till after lunch the next day and by then, he, coach Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Ajay Jadeja decided that a follow-on would not be enforced since the bowlers, especially Srinath had insisted that they were very tired. It was a collective decision not to enforce a follow-on.

"On being asked whether anybody could have influenced this decision since the bookies in Delhi allegedly knew one day in advance that a follow-on will not be enforced, he accepted that it was possible.''

About Shobhan Mehta, the Bombay bookie who was allegedly present at Sachin's wedding, the cricketing genius stated he had never met this person (Mehta) nor invited him to his wedding.

There was tight security during the wedding and only select persons were invited and nobody without a proper invitation could have gate crashed, he told the CBI. ''All speculations about me and Mehta are absolute rubbish and I have never even met him any time in my life,'' he said, while his statement was recorded in Bombay.

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Mail Cricket Editor