October 01, 2006	Sunday	Ramazan 7, 1427

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LAHORE, Sept 30: Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq has dispelled the impression that bowling coach Waqar Younis pushed him into boycotting the Oval Test against England on Aug 20.

"It was a unanimous decision. The entire team management including Waqar and all the players backed the decision and the Pakistan Cricket Board also supported us. It is just not true that only one or two persons imposed the decision on others," Inzamam told reporters on arrival from London on Saturday.

The Pakistan captain was obviously referring to a news item recently published in local press saying that bowling coach Waqar, a close friend of the Multan-born Inzamam, strongly advised him not to take the field after tea on the fourth day of the final Test at The Oval which later snow-balled into a major row.

Inzamam, who attended a disciplinary hearing by ICC in London this week, was cleared of the ball-tampering charge by chief referee Ranjan Madugalle. However, the burly skipper was served a four-ODI ban for bringing the game into disrepute by not taking the field on the fourth day of The Oval Test. Commenting on his acquittal in the ball-tampering case, Inzamam said: "It is a big success, not only for me but also for the entire country, and though the decision to refuse further play was a hard one, we by the grace of God have come out with our pride intact," he said.

Inzamam dismissed the impression that decisions reached at the hearing were the result of some sort of bargaining between the PCB and ICC which subsequently refrained Pakistan from filing an appeal against the ban.

"It is not true. Actually, we decided not to file an appeal against the verdict because I received the minimum punishment under Level-III. There was no chance of complete acquittal as the ICC had to penalise me for the circumstances that led to the eventual forfeiture," he said.

Inzamam insisted that he would not seek legal action against Darrell Hair. "Our religion Islam teaches us to forgive and forget, so I forgive Hair and will not take any action against him," he said. The master batsman added that he had nothing in his heart against Hair. "It will take time to forget what happened at The Oval but my heart is clear as always, and since we have been cleared of the more serious charge of ball tampering I think we should bury the matter," he said.

Inzamam said he did not bother about the remarks of some ex-Test cricketers on the episode since “they have been trying hard to find some negative points in the whole affair.”

He, however, refused to agree that he could have avoided the ban by following the law book. "A strong protest was necessary as they (umpires) had prepared a charge sheet against us and if we had taken the matter lightly the incident would have cost us dearly and could not get so much hype. Thank God at the end, the decision proved right and Pakistan got rid of ball-tampering charges for ever," he said.

Inzamam said he will pray for his team's success in the forthcoming Champions Trophy which will be played under the captaincy of Younis Khan.

The skipper added that he was delighted over PCB’s decision to appoint him as captain till next year’s World Cup.

A large number of fans were present at the Lahore’s Allama Iqbal Airport to welcome Inzamam but the absences of any PCB official could not go unnoticed at the occasion.