India's finance minister, Yashwant Sinha, has announced that Sourav Ganguly is under a cloud for defaulting on tax payments. Thirty-three players, including former captains Mohammad Azharuddin, Kapil Dev and Ajay Jadeja, owe the government tax dues of 38 million rupees ($800,000).

There were, however, no dues against Sachin Tendulkar, nor former captains Sunil Gavaskar and Srinivas Venkataraghvan.

Sinha scoffed at suggestions that the government was not "pro-active" in collecting the dues from the players.

"The impression that we are not pro-active is wrong," he said. "We are pro-active. But, we have to be pro-active as per the law of the land."

Sinha said the income-tax department was pursuing all cases against the cricketers and had fixed strict norms for their quick disposal.

Assuring parliament that there was no laxity on the part of the tax officers, Sinha said the premises of several players and their relatives had been searched, and documents seized were under examination, adding that the duty of the income-tax department was to "collect tax and not to defame people".

The vast earnings of cricketers came into sharp focus two years ago when the federal Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probed the match-fixing and betting scandal. Following the investigation tax officials raided the homes and offices of several players, including Azharuddin, Jadeja and Kapil Dev. Azharuddin and Jadeja were banned from the game for match-fixing, but Kapil was absolved of any wrongdoing.

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