Mumbai players not probed properly: Azhar

NEW DELHI, JAN. 12. The former cricket captain, Mohammad Azharuddin, has said while he was being implicated in the match- fixing scandal, cricketers from Mumbai had been able to get away with wrong-doings without being ``investigated properly''.

``Nobody talks of the Rs. 70 lakhs cash found in Sunil Gavaskar's Gymkhana locker. What about Ravi Shastri's Ali Bagh farm house and other costly properties? How did Vinod Kambli lose his money from a locker?'' Azharuddin asked in an interview to Outlook magazine.

Azharuddin, who has been banned for life following his indictment by the CBI and the cricket board's internal inquiry, said he was being targeted because people were ``jealous'' of his achievements.

``I think people are jealous of me. I have had a successful career and have played for long,'' a press release from the magazine quoted him as saying.

In his first interview after being banned, Azharuddin asserted that he would challenge the life-ban in court. ``I am emphatic about my success in court which I am shortly approaching.''

He also denied allegations that he did not give his 100 per cent under Sachin Tendulkar's captaincy. ``That is completely untrue. Under his (Tendulkar's) captaincy, I scored more runs than he had while captain. I find it difficult to understand why he made such a statement,'' he said referring to Tendulkar's statement to the effect to CBI.

On his first reaction to the CBI report, the former Indian captain said, `` I took the report as any other blackmailing tactic.''

He said there was a ``malicious campaign'' against him when he was made captain in 1993. ``The present BCCI president, Mr. A. C. Muthiah, opposed my Candidature,'' he said.

- PTI

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