Azhar accuses Cronje of vendetta

Indian cricket star Mohammed Azharuddin has emphatically denied allegations that he introduced Hansie Cronje to a bookmaker in 1996 as part of an attempt to fix a match in India.

He told the BBC that Cronje's statement was to retaliate for being exposed in a match-fixing investigation by Indian police.

The sacked South African cricket captain told an enquiry in Cape Town investigating match-fixing allegations that Azharuddin introduced him to a bookmaker who offered him $50,000 to lose a test match against India.

How can anyone rely on the statements of a person who contradicts himself everyday

Mohammad Azharuddin

Azharuddin is due to appear before the Indian investigating agency, the CBI, as part of India's own inquiry into match-fixing allegations.

A CBI spokesman told BBC News Online that the investigating agency would look into the latest revelations by Cronje.

"As an investigation agency, the Central Bureau has to investigate all possible leads into the match-fixing allegations," said CBI spokesman SM Khan.

Denial

Azharuddin said he was completely innocent and was ready to appear before any investigating agency to prove his stand.

I totally deny these allegations and treat them with all the contempt that they deserve

Mohammad Azharuddin

"I totally deny these allegations and treat them with all the contempt that they deserve," he said.

"How can anyone rely on the statements of a person who contradicts himself everyday," he said while referring to Hansie Cronje.

In his testimony to the King Commission in Cape Town, Hansie Cronje said he was approached by a bookie during South Africa's tour of India in 1996.

He said that Azharuddin had arranged the meeting with the bookmaker - known as MK - in a hotel.

Azharuddin... called me to a room in a hotel and introduced me to Mukesh Gupta

Hansie Cronje

"On the evening of the third day of the third Test against India in Kanpur I received a call from Mohammad Azharuddin," he said.

"He called me to a room in a hotel and introduced me to Mukesh Gupta otherwise known as MK.

"Azharuddin then departed and left us alone in the room."

Cronje said that "MK asked if we would give wickets away on the last day of the Test to ensure that we lost" in return for money.

Cronje: "Malik asked if a bookie had approached me"

However, the CBI's SM Khan says no one by the name of Mukesh Gupta had figured in their investigations thus far.

Cronje also alleged that former Pakistan captain Salim Malik knew of an approach made to him by a bookmaker in 1995.

He said a man, known to him only as John, made contact with him in Pakistan in 1995, and offered him $10,000 to throw a one-day international.

The offer was turned down but Cronje added that Salim Malik asked him, on the morning of the match, if he had spoken to John.

Malik has received a life ban from the Pakistan cricket board after being found guilty of match-fixing.