Karachi, May 19 (IANS): When the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced strict penalties against some of the country’s leading players after a disastrous tour of Australia last February, it thought it had buried the issue by taking drastic action against the players.

But more than three months after the tour ended, the controversy refuses to die down. On Monday night, a leading Pakistani TV channel ran exclusive footage of the proceedings of a PCB inquiry in the Australia tour disaster in which some of the coaches and players are seen making serious allegations against some of their teammates.

Former captain Shoaib Malik seems to be at the centre of most of the criticism as he has been portrayed as a villain by Mohammad Yousuf - Pakistan’s captain during the tour of Australia - and Shahid Afridi.

Yousuf and Afridi can be seen telling the PCB probe panel that Malik was a "negative character and a bad influence" on the Pakistan cricket team.

According to the video, one of the probe committee members even described Malik as a "termite" after being told by some of the players and the coaches that the all-rounder played a lot of politics within the national team and was the biggest culprit behind the lack of team spirit in the squad.

Malik, who married Indian tennis star Sania Mirza last month, was banned for one year by the PCB while former captains Yousuf and Younis Khan were banned for an indefinite period. All-rounder Rana Naved-ul-Hasan was banned for one year while heavy fines were imposed on Afridi and the Akmal brothers - Kamran and Umar.

The footage also shows former coach Intikhab Alam and assistant coach Aaqib Javed raising suspicion that some of the national team players may have been involved in match-fixing.