I don''t subscribe to the view of banning Pakistan: Lorgat

Wed, Sep 29 10 10:57 PM

Karachi, Sep 29 (PTI) The International Cricket Council has no plans to ban Pakistan from world cricket neither does ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat have any problems with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt. "I don''t subscribe to this view of banning Pakistan . We have to separate a few individuals from a team and nation," Lorgat said today during a telephonic press conference with Pakistani journalists. "If these individuals are proven guilty I don''t believe that an entire nation or team should be held responsible for the acts of individuals. There are provisions in the ICC that allows suspension of members but that is something we are not contemplating by any strech of imagination," Lorgat said. Many former players including ex-England captain, Ian Botham have voiced calls for the ICC to ban Pakistan cricket because of the spot-fixing allegations against three players. Lorgat also spoke about his relation with Ijaz Butt who had called for the removal of Lorgat as ICC CEO. Butt''s strong remarks against Lorgat and the England and Wales Cricket Board came after the ICC had launched an investigation into the third England-Pakistan one-dayer at the Oval following reports of suspicious scoring patterns during the Pakistan innings. "I dont wany to hold Pakistani cricketers responsible for what you might consider poor relations between two individuals and there is none in my book. I say the game is bigger than anyone of us and we are custodians of the game," he said. "I will continue to meet him and will continue to employ tactics to make him believe what I think is right and what he should be doing," Lorgat added. "But he (Butt) has to take responsibility for leading the PCB and for his own actions." Lorgat also believed that Butt should not have gone public with his allegations against the English cricketers. "I would have been more satisfied if Butt had made a direct approach to ACSU and provided whatever information and evidence he had that could have been helpful for relations between PCB and ECB," Lorgat said. Lorgat also said that the ICC didn''t act improperly by giving a statement on investigations into the third ODI. "We have to protect the integrity of the game and it is our stated position. "We will not tolerate any form of corruption within the sport. We adopt a zero tolerance approach and in that respect any information we believe to be creditable we will follow up thoroughly to ensure we keep the game clean," Lorgat said. Asked about the progress of the investigation into the Oval match, he said the ICC didnt name any individual. "We didnt name any individual. We received information which we are currently validating." .

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