LONDON: Australian skipper Steve Waugh said his Indian counterpart Mohd Azharuddin blundered in opting to field in the crucial World Cup Super Six match between the two teams and also in sending Sachin Tendulkar as an opener.

``I was pleased to see Tendulkar opening to take on Mcgrath and the new ball on a pitch that was always going to be difficult,'' Waugh wrote in The Times. ``We took control of the match after 15 overs of our innings. It was an important toss to lose and I was surprised when Azhar asked us to bat,'' he said.

Waugh said the fact that Australians had not lost a wicket after 15 overs psychologically affected the Indians.

Shoaib cost us the match, says Akram

NOTTINGHAM: Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has rapped young pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar over the knuckles for his part in their World Cup defeat by South Africa.

He told The Sunday Telegraph that Shoaib, the fastest bowler in the tournament, had not bowled``according to the plan''. ``At the death the best policy is to bowl full and try to deliver yorkers as often as possible,'' Akram was quoted as saying. ``He bowled a little short and the one over in which he gave 17 runs cost us the match. ``I have made it clear to the boys that if they want to win they must be consistent and play according to a plan.''

Akram was fulsome in his praise for Lance Klusener whose swashbuckling unbeaten 46 carried the South Africans to an unlikely three-wicket win at Trent Bridge yesterday. ``He has a very quick eye, picks up the length of a ball and dispatches it clinically into the gaps. He won a match that South Africa had all but lost.''

It's fixed, cry Pak fans

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's defeat to South Africa in the World Cup Super Six tie on Saturday has once again led to accusations of match-fixing from dejected Pakistan fans at home. The largest circulated Urdu daily Jung reported that hundreds of cricket fans called up its offices in Rawalpindi, Lahoreand Karachi to express resentment at the way Pakistan lost the tie at Trent Bridge and alleged the tie was fixed.

The team had come under fire after it was stunned by debutants Bangladesh in the inconsequential Group `B' match.

The paper said the fans alleged match-fixing had taken place because skipper Wasim Akram dropped the explosive Shahid Afridi and included the dour Wajahatullah Wasti. They also demanded that Afridi be included for the next tie, against India at Old Trafford on June 8, it said.

The fans also said that the absence of Javed Miandad was also felt in the team. Had Miandad been there he would have sent vital tips to Akram in the crucial moments which would have tilted the balance. Akram persisting with off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, whose 10 overs went for 51 overs, in the crucial final overs instead of bowling himself was also criticised, the paper said.

The Pakistan fans also expressed apprehension that if this losing trend continued their team may also lose to arch-rivalsIndia.

Imran offers to calm fans

LONDON: Former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan has offered his services to calm fans during the potentially explosive tie between India and Pakistan at Old Trafford in Manchester on Tuesday.

Imran Khan made the offer in a letter to hosts Lancashire county club as crowd trouble is feared for the match between the two arch-rivals being held in the shadow of the situation at Kargil.

``I have told Lancashire I am available to help them make a success of it,'' Imran told AFP. ``We can't afford to let it go wrong.''

Asian community leaders have been asked to monitor the crowd on closed circuit television to be installed at the ground and `name and shame' any young hooligans, the Sunday Telegraph has reported.

Police have asked Manchester's Indian and Pakistani community leaders to attend the match to identify rowdy fans to the authorities and to the parents if they get out of hand. Police have also drafted undercover officers from the football intelligence unitwho would mingle with the crowd to spot trouble-makers.