LAHORE, Oct 23: Describing the last eight years of his life as nightmare, former Pakistan Test captain Salim Malik heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday after a Civil Court in Lahore lifted the life ban imposed on him over involvement in match-fixing scandal.

Talking to Dawn, Salim thanked Allah The Almighty for getting justice, after spending the last eight years in great agony.

“The last eight years of my life had been just like a nightmare during which I have lost all taste of my success in cricket,” Salim said.

In 2000, a judicial commission, headed by the then Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice (retd) Malik Mohammad Qayyum, probing the match-fixing scandals featuring some Pakistan players, had recommended a life ban on Salim, besides imposing a fine of Rs100,000 on him, while announcing his recommendations.

The commission had also announced fines for Wasim Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed, Ata-ur-Rehman, Waqar Younis, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Akram Raza and Saeed Anwar.

About Wasim, the commission had also recommended the authorities concerned not to appoint him the captain of national team. Accepting all the recommendations, the PCB had imposed life ban on Salim.

Salim, who played some wonderful match-winning knocks for his country, played his last Test against arch-rivals India when he featured in the inaugural Asian Test Championship’s game at Kolkata in February 1999. The batsman played his last One-day International against the same team in Manchester at the 1999 World Cup. During his playing years, he also represented Lahore, Habib Bank Limited and Essex in first-class cricket.

Salim, a veteran of 103 Tests and 283 ODIs, had filed a petition against the ban decision in the Supreme Court, which had referred the case to the Civil Court.

According to the decision of the Civil Court Judge Malik Mohammad Altaf the commission had no authority to impose a ban.

In fact, the 45-year-old Salim said, the decision had given him a new lease of life.

“I want to forget the miseries of the last eight years and to start a new journey,” he expressed.

The former middle-order batsman said the ban had ruined his 19-year successful association with cricket, hoping that such scandals would not haunt cricket in future.

About his future programme, Salim, who smashed an unbeaten century on his Test debut against Sri Lanka in March 1982 at Karachi, said four years ago he had announced to set up an academy, but the PCB did not allow him to do so due to the ban.

“I will now prefer to establish my own academy. If offered, I will also like to work with the PCB, since the new Chairman Ijaz Butt, who as a selector picked me from the Under-19s in 1980s, is a true supporter of cricketers,” he said.

Salim, a stylish batsman of his era, stressed that after the court’s decision, the ICC should not have any objection over his involvement in cricketing affairs.

Malik Qayyum’s decision to ban Salim was based on the allegations of Australian Test cricketers Shane Warne and Mark Waugh, who had claimed that Salim offered them money to lose a Test match in Karachi in the 1994-95 series.