Butt rubbishes 'baseless' match-fixing charges labeled against captain, coach India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ijaz Butt has rubbished match-fixing allegations leveled against captain Younis Khan and coach Intikhab Alam. Butt said the match fixing charges leveled by National Assembly's Standing Committee on Sports chairman Jamshed Dasti were 'baseless'. Dasti, however, had later backtracked from his statement saying he was 'misunderstood'. He said Dasti should not have criticized the players as the team performed brilliantly in the Champions Trophy reaching the semi final stage. "The parliamentarian has a right to criticize the working of the Board but he should not have criticised the team which did very well in the Champions Trophy. There is no proof of fixing. All such charges are baseless," The News quoted Butt, as saying. "This is cricket, and we are ready to explain the team's performance to parliament committee," he added. Earlier, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had also brushed aside the fixing allegations labeled against the Pakistani team. ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat rebutted reports regarding the involvement of umpires in the scandal, and gave a clean chit to umpire Simon Taufel who was officiating in the semi-final match between Pakistan and New Zealand. "It is not worthy of spending any energy on. We are very comfortable with Taufel," Lorgat said. "We are quite pleased with the way the game was played. It was played in great spirits. We all know Taufel," he added.