Thaindian News

By Omar Khalid
London, Sep 2 (IANS) Pakistan Thursday dropped the tainted trio of cricketers for the remainder of the England tour but decided to extend them all legal help, insisting that they are innocent till proven guilty.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) ruled out Test captain Salman Butt and pacers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer, who are at the centre of a raging spot-fixing controversy, for the rest of the England tour.

Later, Pakistan’s High Commissioner Wajid Shamsul Hasan, after a 90-minute meeting with the players, said the three will stay in Britain and will prove their innocence.

“They are extremely disturbed with what has happened,” Hasan told reporters outside the Pakistan High Commission here.

“They are entirely innocent. They further maintain that, on account of the mental torture, they are not in the right frame of mind and have requested the PCB to take them out of the team for the current tour.”

Hasan said that he believes that the players are innocent.

“I believe that they are innocent. They are innocent until proven guilty. They are here. They are not running anywhere. They say they are innocent and want to clear their names. The investigations are on. We have to wait,” he said.

Hasan said that the Pakistan High Commission will continue to help the players.

“We will, inshaallah, stand vindicated. They are Pakistani nationals. It’s the duty of the Pakistani mission to help them,” he said.

In Taunton, team manager Yawar Saeed declared that reinforcements will be called next week.

“The squad will remain what is here this morning for the T20 matches. Once we play these two Twenty20 game, we will ask for replacements for the one-day matches,” Yawar told reporters here at the County Ground just before the start of Pakistan’s practice match against Somerset.

Yawar, however, rejected the impression that the three players have been suspended.

“No, they have not been suspended,” he said but did not give any explanation.

“We have 13. We will get three more to make it 16 again for the five ODIs,” he said when asked why the three players will not be a part of the squad any more if they have not been suspended.

Yawar said his team will continue with the assignment without the trio, who are their key players. “One has to play without a lot of guys. Lot of great guys have come and gone.”

Yawar did not disclose as to which players will be called from Pakistan.

“The selectors will decide. We will tell them who we need and they will take a decision,” he said.

Pakistan’s ODI captain Shahid Afridi vowed to put aside the raging scandal and lead his side from the front in the series against England in Cardiff from Sunday.

Afridi said that his team was going through a tough time because of spot-fixing allegations but was quick to add that his players would overcome all odds and give their best in the series.

“These are tough times for us, there is no doubt about it,” said Afridi.

“It has hurt us all and we are hoping that the controversy will end soon,” he said.

Pakistan lost the four-Test series against England 1-3 last week at Lord’s where the finale was overshadowed by the spot-fixing scandal. Angry fans raised slogans against the accused players as they left Lord’s after crashing to their worst-ever Test defeat last Sunday.

There are fears that Pakistan might have to endure hostile crowds during the one-day series but Afridi is confident that his team will give their fans plenty of reasons to cheer about during the Twenty20 and one-day games.