The CBI Report in Full -- Part 22

Statement of Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar, former Indian captain, when asked about the India-New Zealand Test at Ahmedabad in 1999, sated that by the end of third day's play when New Zealand had lost around 6 wickets, he had thought to himself that he would enforce the follow-on the next day.

However, the New Zealand innings dragged on till after lunch the next day and by then he himself, coach Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Ajay Jadeja decided that the 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 follow-on. On being asked whether anybody could have influenced this decision since the bookies in Delhi allegedly knew one day in advance that follow-on will not be enforced, he accepted that it was possible.

About Shobhan Mehta, the Bombay bookie, he stated that he had never met this person nor did he invite him to his wedding. During his wedding there was tight security and only select persons were invited and nobody without a proper invitation could have gate crashed.

All speculations about himself and Shobhan Mehta were absolutely rubbish and he had never met this person any time in his life. On being asked whether he suspected any Indian player of being involved in match-fixing, Sachin stated that during his tenure as Captain, he had felt that Mohd Azharuddin was not putting in 100 per cent effort and he suspected that he was involved with some bookies.

On being asked about the India-West Indies match at Kanpur in 1994 when Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia batted slowly, he stated that he was the vice-captain during that match and he was absolutely sure that there were no instructions from the management for Manoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia to bat slowly and that he was so upset with their tactics that he did not talk to them after the match.

Statement of Maninder Singh Maninder Singh, former Indian cricket team player was asked about the Ranji Trophy quarter final match between Delhi and Bombay in 1991 at Feroze Shah Kotla. He stated that in that particular year, the Ranji Trophy schedule was disturbed because of some court order.

Some of the Delhi players were committed to play league cricket in England. Had Delhi won that quarter final match, further Ranji Trophy matches would have clashed with league engagements in England. He stated that although there was no conscious decision to lose that match, the team was not serious about winning it either.

Statement of Kirti Azad

He stated that he was a member of the Delhi Ranji Trophy team which played the quarter final match against Bombay in 1991. He confirmed that some of the Delhi players were committed to playing league cricket in England that season.

He stated that he was not contacted to play league cricket in the year 1991. Kirti Azad denied that there was any conscious decision on the part of the Delhi team as a whole to lose the match against Bombay. However, he accepted that some members of the team may have taken such a decision.

He denied that he was a party to any such decision to throw away the match. Statement of Atul Wassan He stated that he was member of the Delhi Ranji Trophy team which played the quarter final match against Bombay in 1991.

He also stated that he was contracted to play league cricket in England during that season. Atul Wassan further stated that the Ranji Trophy schedule in 1991 was delayed and would have clashed with league engagements of some of the players including himself in England.

He stated that the players had asked DDCA to relieve them from Ranji Trophy engagements so that they could play league cricket in England but this plea was rejected. He further said that there was no conscious decision on the part of the Delhi players to lose the match, but they were not very serious about winning the match.

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