Karachi/New Delhi:
Interior Minister Rehman Malik today triggered a controversy warning Pakistan players against indulging in match-fixing, comments that did not go well with the country's former players and administrators, who criticised him for his statement.
Malik's critics attacked him for speaking about match-fixing without any reason and that if he had to say something he could have conveyed it quietly to the team. But they ruled out Malik's statement affecting the morale of the players.
In a surprise statement, the minister said he was keeping a "close watch" on the activities of the team in Mohali against the backdrop of what had happened in London last year when some of the team players were allegedly caught involved in spot-fixing.
"I gave a warning that there should be no match-fixing. I am keeping a close watch. If any such thing happens, we are going to take action," Malik said two days ahead of the game in Mohali that will showcase one of the world's most intense sporting rivalries.
He said though he was "sure the team has very clean members", intelligence is being gathered on the Pakistani cricketers, including "who are meeting them and the position of their telephones".
"This is necessary because we can't take a chance after what happened in London," he said, in a reference to a recent match-fixing controversy in Britain involving three Pakistani players.
Malik, who made the remarks during an interaction with the media in Karachi, also had some advice for the Pakistani players.
"There is a lot of love for the cricketers and we hope they will win the game for us. We expect they will not disappoint the people," he said.
Former Pakistani cricketing great Imran Khan was critical of Malik saying he does not doubt the integrity of the country's team but was keeping a watch on Malik, who has been "absconding from justice".
"I would at least watch Rehman Malik more than the cricket team. I am serious, because I don't know if you know he was absconding from justice until recently. So therefore my worry is not with the cricket team but with him," Imran said in Kolkata.
(Watch: Imran Khan slams Pak minister)"He doesn't have a very good command over the English language, perhaps he meant something else and something else came out," he added.
Imran said the only way to get rid of corruption in cricket is to be more vigilant.
"We have to stamp out corruption from cricket; the simple rule all over the world is making crime not pay. So the more vigilant the boards are, ICC is ...(and) someone is caught, they should be given punishment and this is the only way and there is just one another dimension to it as spot-fixing is very difficult to pick," he said.