India, Pakistan deny seeking ban for scandal Aussies

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Khalid Mehmood attacked reports quoting him as saying India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka would press the game's governing body to ban Waugh and Warne.

``I never said such a thing,'' Mehmood said. ``It is a mischevious, fabricated report designed to spoil the cricketing relations between Australia and Pakistan.''

Indian cricket chief Raj Singh Dungarpur backed Mehmood's claim, saying he was not aware of any move by the sub-continent to force the International Cricket Council (ICC) to ban the two players.

``This thing about us lobbying for a ban is rubbish, it was never discussed,'' Dungarpur said.

Mehmood was quoted as saying last week in Pakistan that the sub-continent would jointly seek to have Waugh and Warne removed after they admitted taking money from an Indian bookmaker for information on pitch and weather conditions during a tour of Sri Lanka in 1994.

The Australian Cricket Board (ACB) reacted angrily to the report, saying it would oppose any such moves since it was conducting it's own inquiry into the matter.

The executive board of the ICC, which meets in Christchurch on January 10 and 11, will discuss the match-fixing and bribery scandal that has taken the cricket world by storm.

Dungarpur, who will attend the meeting, said India would back moves by the ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya to conduct an independent probe into the scandal.

``The air needs to be cleared,'' he said. ``Cricket's image has suffered badly in recent months and we can't afford it. It's just not cricket.''

Waugh and Warne have been asked to appear before a Pakistan judicial commission in Melbourne on January 8 when they will be questioned about their allegations that former Pakistani captain Salim Malik offered them money to lose a match in 1994.

The Pakistani inquiry is expected to be completed by the end of January, while a separate ACB probe which seeks to interview all Australian cricketers since 1992, will begin work on January 12.