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Azharuddin is lucky not to be in jail: Allan Border

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December 8, 2000 

MELBOURNE--(AP) - Australian cricket selector Allan Border says former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin was lucky not to be in jail after being found guilty of match fixing.

Azharuddin was banned for life by Indian cricket authorities but Border, a former Australian captain, said the punishment was too light because the 38-year-old batsman was "finished anyway" as a player.

"If (Azharuddin) is guilty, which it seems as though he is, then he is lucky not to be in jail," Border told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Thursday. "If you did that in the normal walk of life, in a normal business practice, then you would find yourself 10 years" in jail.

Ajay Sharma was also banned for life Tuesday and two other players, Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar, were suspended from playing for five years by India's Board of Control for Cricket.

The four players were convicted by the country's Central Bureau of Investigation on the basis of testimony of bookmakers.

Border, the most prolific Australian batsman in test cricket history, said he liked Azharuddin, adding that it was "shattering" to see him involved in fixing the results of matches.

He said ongoing investigations would be a "slow, tough process," but were necessary to lift the sport out of the match fixing scandal that erupted when former South African skipper Hansie Cronje admitted earlier this year that he'd accepted money from an Indian bookmaker.

"You go through these processes and there is a lot of heartbreak involved but hopefully when we come out the other end, we will have regained a lot of public support," he said.

Greg Melick, the Australian Cricket Board's recently appointed special investigator, will accompany International Cricket Council anti-corruption chief Sir Paul Condon to India on the weekend to investigate allegations against other international cricketers.

Melick, who is investigating claims by an Indian bookmaker that he bribed Australian batsman Mark Waugh, said he wanted to meet face-to-face with Indian investigators.