Cricket's anti-corruption unit studying Black Caps win

Black Caps v Pakistan

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Grant Elliott is all smiles after winning the ICC Champions Trophy semi final cricket match against Pakistan.

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GOOD NEWS: Black Caps batsman Grant Elliott is expected to be fit for the start of the provincial season.

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The Champions Trophy has been shrouded by claims that Pakistan captain Younus Khan is under suspicion of corruption.

A day after the tournament won high praise from the skippers in this morning's final, Australia's Ricky Ponting and New Zealand's Daniel Vettori, an Indian newspaper alleged Younus was under investigation by the International Cricket Council's (ICC) anti-corruption unit.

The Ahmedabad Mirror reported the unit would investigate Younus' dropped catch in his side's loss to New Zealand in Sunday morning's (NZ time) semifinal at the Wanderers.

An ICC spokesman would not confirm whether the unit was investigating the incident.

"We don't discuss the activities of the ICC's ACU (anti-corruption unit)," he said last night.

Younus spilled a straight-forward chance at short cover in the 40th over off New Zealand's Grant Elliott, who was on 42 at the time in his side's total of 4-165, chasing 234.

The miss was a crucial one, as Elliott hit out soon after and finished on 75 not out in the Black Caps' five-wicket win.

The newspaper claimed the anti-corruption unit would have a "good look" at the match, though it reported "it would be jumping the gun at this stage to suggest a hanky panky semi-final".

After the match Younus said he was hampered by a thick bandage around the little finger on his right hand, which he broke before the tournament began.

He also conceded he might have taken the low catch had he had his fingers pointed downwards, instead of to the sky.

During his press conference Younus addressed the incident in Hindi, and also in English, when he conceded the miss was the turning point of the match.

"I dropped that catch and I will remember it because maybe the situation would've changed," he said.

"But if you play for the country with a broken finger in previous matches I got a run-out and a good catch and people praised it, saying 'He is doing it with a broken finger'.

"Today we made some mistakes and lost and paid for it, so I am not worried just about dropping the catch. " The Mirror quoted Younus as saying he was not worried that people would think "I am up to something".

Younus returned home on Sunday, while Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed could not be contacted.

The claims of an investigation came after Ponting and Vettori praised the tournament as the best edition of the Champions Trophy they had played in.

They agreed the ICC had got right the format of having only the best eight teams involved and making the event short and sharp.

Vettori said the fact every match was important had addressed one of the key points of concern over the future of the 50-over game.

- AAP