Former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan has finally opened up on the Oval Gate scandal and has blamed ex-captain Inzamam-ul Haq for letting the PCB and Pakistan cricket down.
The incident, known as the Oval Gate, became famous when Pakistan became the first team in the history of the game to forfeit a Test match at the Oval in 2005 under Inzamam’s captaincy.
The forfeiture came after umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove penalised Pakistan for ball tampering which was openly challenged by Inzamam and led to the Test being forfeited despite Pakistan being in a winning position. “Things began to go wrong at the beginning of the tour of England at the time. I remember very clearly, because I was there. I saw that player power was taking over,” Shaharyar told a website.
“For instance, Bob Woolmer had asked one or two people to come in and coach. So John Snow the veteran England fast bowler and wicket-keeper Allan Knott were asked to come in for a day and help the boys but Inzamam said no! He said he wouldn’t have them. Inzamam had his team behind him and things began to deteriorate from that point onwards,” the former PCB chief said.