Wanted for questioning in connection with the match-fixing scandal of 2000, South Africa batsman Herschelle Gibbs today took the worst possible route to India next month for the Champions Trophy — by calling Delhi Police “hard-arses”.

Saying he would reach India with a lawyer, Gibbs told a South African magazine that they (police) “haven’t really played their part”.

“You know, we’ve asked them many a time to come question me on neutral territory, and they refuse. So it’s not like I haven’t made the effort. It’s them being hard-arses. That’s it,’’ Gibbs told Sports Illustrated.

“I think the particular guy that’s driving the whole thing is quite a hard-arse sort of guy, and he refuses to let himself be dictated to. He wants to do it on his terms, and that’s it,’’ Gibbs was quoted as saying.

Delhi Police Commissioner K K Paul, whose team busted the betting scandal from phone taps, wouldn’t “react to media reports’’, but he did suggest that the road ahead was clear. “Whatever action has to happen will happen. The law will take its own course,’’ he said.

Gibbs and left-arm spinner Nicky Boje are both wanted for questioning by Delhi Police over their alleged involvement in the scandal. And obviously, Gibbs, who might even travel to India with a lawyer, knows he will have some answering to do — he said that he has already received a set of 18 questions from Delhi Police.

“Ja, I am going to go. But my lawyer’s coming with me. I’ve put forward a proposal to Cricket South Africa, which was discussed on Thursday. I’ve proposed that my lawyer and I will travel with the team, and once we get to the hotel, they can then do the questioning at the hotel,’’ Gibbs said.

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