KARACHI, April 5: Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq on Thursday blamed the team's first-round exit from the World Cup on the poor performances of the senior players.

Speaking in front of the probe committee appointed by the PCB to evaluate the Cup debacle, Inzamam said poor batting had led to their early elimination.

“He said the senior players had not delivered as expected although the bowlers did their best,” a member of the committee told Reuters.

Inzamam also stressed that the standard of domestic cricket needs to be improved if Pakistan are to regain their stature in world cricket.

“He said there was need to have more quality cricket instead of quantity. And unless the domestic structure was improved Pakistan would always struggle to be consistent,” the committee member said.

The committee will also question other players, team officials, journalists and board administrators before submitting its findings in a month's time.

Our Sports Correspondent adds from Lahore: Inzamam vehemently denied any involvement of Pakistan players in match-fixing and said the ugly practice had no role in his team’s early exit from the World Cup.

Elaborating on his session with committee, Inzamam said: “I have told the members of the committee that allegations of match-fixing have never been associated with Pakistan team in the last three and a half years. They just erupted after our early exit from the World Cup.”