Dirk Nannes questions Mohammad Azharuddin’s presence at Extraaa Innings

Australian pacer Dirk Nannes took to Twitter to express his amusement at the presence of Mohammad Azharuddin in the pre-match IPL show Extraaa Innings. Nannes said he was surprised to see a ‘self-confessed’ match-fixer being welcomed on a show as big and reputed in the cricket world as Extraaa Innings.

Nannes questioned as how can a match-fixer be on the show and to add to it, be treated as royalty on the show. Mohammad Azharuddin has been on the show as one of the cricket experts. In addition to that, Azharuddin is also promoting his biopic ‘Azhar’ on the show along with Emraan Hashmi, who plays the reel-life Mohammad Azharuddin in the biopic.

The biopic Azhar is slated to release on the 13^th of May and is produced by Shobha Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor and Sony Pictures Networks. The movie features Nargis Fakhri and Prachi Desai as the two female leads.

As per a report in ESPNcricinfo, Azharuddin reportedly confessed that he had fixed three one-day matches; the first against South Africa at Rajkot in 1996, then Pepsi Cup matches in Sri Lanka in 1997 and Pakistan in 1999. But he was subsequently quoted in an interview denying that he was involved in any such activity. That cut no ice with the Indian Board, however, who declared Azhar guilty as charged late in November 2001.

Whatever be the situation, the question asked by Dirk Nannes is certainly making people ponder about the same. However, it will only be unfair to say anything since it is still not clear whether Azharuddin had confessed his actions or not.

Here is the tweet by Dirk Nannes:

Why is a confessed match fixer welcomed on a cricket show and treated like royalty? How is that even possible?

— Dirk Nannes (@dirk_nannes) May 11, 2016

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