Pawar dismisses Kambli's charges as irresponsible

New Delhi: International Cricket Council president Sharad Pawar has dismissed as 'irresponsible' Vinod Kambli's allegation that India's 1996 World Cup semi-final against Sri Lanka could have been fixed.

'I honestly feel that his allegations are irresponsible statements,' Pawar said.

'If he was an honest and a committed cricketer he should have spoken about it then. But he kept quiet, so I hold him irresponsible,' said Pawar.

'I would rather believe in what Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar or Ajit Wadekar say,' he said.

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Pawar also said Kambli was not known to be serious with his cricket. 'If he (Kambli) had given importance to cricket, he could have been like Sachin Tendulkar. But consistency was always a problem with him,' said the former BCCI chief.

BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla also said that there was no need to give importance to Kambli's statement.

'I don't think we need to attach any importance to someone who wakes up 15 years after the incident to make these allegations,' Shukla said.