Malik fights life ban

Malik: Believes he has been treated unfairly

Salim Malik has written to the Pakistan Cricket Board asking them to lift a life ban imposed on him for match-fixing.

His letter challenges the findings of the Qayyum judicial inquiry and claims he was discriminated against because he is no longer a member of the national side.

The inquiry recommended life bans for Malik and seam bowler Ata-ur-Rehman, with fines imposed on six other players, including all-rounder Wasim Akram.

The PCB has appointed lawyer Naveed Rasool to handle any legal ramifications arising from the inquiry, and Malik's letter will be passed to him for consideration.

"I am not to be denied equal treatment and to be disciriminated against simply because I am no longer good enough to be a member of the Pakistan team.

"Please compare the allegations against me and my dear brother, Wasim Akram. Then compare the evidence against both of us and finally compare the findings and recommendations," he asks.

Warne: Malik claims he is a discredited witness

Malik complains that the inquiry should not have accepted evidence against him from Australians Shane Warne and Mark Waugh.

Warne alleges that Malik offered him money to bowl below his best on the last day of the Karachi Test in 1994, while Waugh says he received a similar offer prior to a one-day international at Rawalpindi on the same tour.

"The inquiry commission should not have believed Warne and Waugh's testimony because of the admitted position that they themselves are self-confessed habitual gamblers," Malik's letter states.

Writing about the Karachi Test, he says: "The inquiry commission was convinced that a match can only be fixed by four or five players working together. It cannot be fixed by an individual or two players."

He adds: "Warne nurses a grudge against me viz that I am the only batsman in the world he has not been able to get out."

Warne and Waugh have admitted receiving money from a bookmaker for providing pitch ands weather information during Australia's 1994 tour to Sri Lanka.

They were subsequently fined by the Australian Cricket Board.