LAHORE             -        Former Pakistan captain Salim Malik on Monday said that he has submitted his written reply to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

The 57-year former cricketer has received a letter from the PCB’s Anti-Corruption Unit, asking him to respond to a set of questions/script, which include those pertaining to his meetings with some people in London in 2011. “The script/questions sent by the PCB is a pack of lie, however, I have submitted its replay,” said the former cricketer while talking to media outside the Gaddafi Stadium after submitting his reply to the PCB headquarters here on Monday.

He was banned for life in 2000 by a judicial commission for match-fixing but was cleared by a session court in 2008. He has now launched a campaign to seek permission from the Pakistan Cricket Board to give him clearance to get back to cricket activities.

Salim Malik came hard on PCB saying, “I fought my case in courts for eight years and during the entire legal proceedings, no one including PCB provided any evidence of match-fixing against me and I think the International Cricket Council (ICC) has never asked anything from the PCB about me.”

He said there is no importance of verdict given by Justice Qayyum on match-fixing and he (Salim) has never mentioned the name of any player in this regard. “I am a grandfather now and I want to settle this issue for good,” he added. “I have submitted my reply to the PCB within the given time period of 15 days and I hope the PCB will answer me in the similar time frame.”

To a question, he said it seemed that apparently Test cricketer Umar Akmal has been handed over harsh punishment by the PCB’s tribunal in connection with not reporting spot-fixing approaches timely to the anti-corruption unit of the Board.