Rashid Latif disowns Outlook interview

Former Pakistan wicket-keeper Rashid Latif on Sunday disowned, in a scribbled fax sent to Pakistan vice captain Saeed Anwar, has denied his statements, as quoted in a recent issue of Outlook magazine, wherein he named Anwar as one of the players involved in the betting scandal now rocking subcontinental cricket.

It will be recalled that earlier, Latif had sent a similar fax to Mohammad Azharuddin, denying that he had named the former Indian captain as also team-mates Venkatapathy Raju, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Ajay Jadeja as parties to the betting shenanigans.

In his fax, Latif says that the portion of the interview regarding Anwar's alleged involvement is make-believe, and denies having told the Outlook correspondent that he has an audio-tape that proves that Anwar, as also senior player and former Pakistan captain Salim Malik, are involved in betting and match fixing.

Interestingly, the Outlook story mentions that Saeed Younis, a London-based agent who handles the financial and promotional activities of top-ranking Pakistan players including Anwar, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Latif himself, was present when Latif was interviewed by the Indian newsmagazine. And, further, that Saeed Younis told the interviewer that Latif has audiotapes confirming his allegations.

Once the charges became public, Anwar contacted Younis and threatened to take him to court for libel. Indications are that it is this threat that has produced Latif's hastily scrawled fax, denying all statements linking Anwar to the scandal.

The bottomline is that in just one week, Latif has denied those portions of the Outlook article that involves Indian players, and now Saeed Anwar. The glaring omission, of course, relates to Salim Malik.

It will be recalled that Malik was captain of Pakistan for the 1995 tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe - and Rashid Latif was his vice captain. Midway through the tour, Latif and batsman Basit Ali announced their retirement from international cricket, claiming that there were things going on in the team that they couldn't tolerate any longer.

In the Outlook article, interestingly, Latif has cited chapter and verse about Malik's involvement, giving specific instances from 1995 - in glaring contrast to the fact that he has not cited any instances with regard to the Indians, or even to Anwar.

Latif has not, till this point in time, retracted that part of the article that levels allegations against Malik. The latter, for his part, refused all comment, giving as his reason that the Pakistan Cricket Board has specifically forbidden him from speaking to the media in this connection.