Akram's conscience clear

Beaten man: Akram reflects on defeat by India

A special BBC Sport Online correspondent in Pakistan talks to all-rounder Wasim Akram about the country's latest match-fixing inquiry.

Wasim Akram is again under a cloud of suspicion.

He was Pakistan captain during the 1999 World Cup, and the team's performances during the tournament are now the subject of a judicial inquiry led by Justice Kharamat Bhandari.

Defeats by Bangladesh and India are the commission's chief focus.

But doubt has also been cast on the team's performance in the final when they were all out for 132 and lost to Australia.

Akram, together with current Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis, Inzamam-ul Haq, Saeed Anwar, Moin Khan, Saqlain Mushtaq and World Cup coach Mushtaq Mohamad have all been summoned to give evidence.

They are due to attend next Saturday's hearing in Lahore.

But the 35-year-old, the only player in history to take more than 400 wickets in both Test and one-day cricket, is in defiant mood.

Akram congratulates Australia's Steve Waugh

He told BBC Sport Online he was confident the allegations would be found to be "baseless".

Allegations of match-fixing have been made by Majid Khan, Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive during the World Cup, and former fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz.

"Somehow Khan never liked the current players. He has always tried to find excuses to slam the players," said Akram.

Past controversy

"We lost the World Cup games to teams who were better on that day.

"South Africa, one of the best teams, also lost to Zimbabwe but no one raised a finger about that. One-day cricket is circus where the team playing good on that day emerges the winner.

"It's not like Test cricket when well-prepared teams can bounce back and make amends for first innings failure. You play bad on that day and you lose, it's as simple as that."

Bangladesh fans celebrate an amazing win

It is not the first time that Akram has found himself caught up in a match-fixing controversy.

He was one of six current players fined as a result of the earlier Qayyum inquiry.

The judge ruled that they had not been involved in any "planned match-fixing" but imposed the fines because of their failure to co-operate fully with the inquiry.

He also recommended that Akram should not captain Pakistan again.

In consequence, Akram lost popularity among fans and favour with Pakistan cricket officials, but he has no intention of walking away from the game he loves.

"Unfortunately, it has become a trend that whenever there is an international season, a controversy is waiting to greet us but I am taking this inquiry as an exercise aimed at settling the issue once and for all," he added.