The interim report of a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) inquiry firmly implicated the trio, but may be superceded by a separate government commission appointed last month to investigate bribery.

Justice Malik Mohammad Qayoom of the Lahore high court was appointed last month to conduct a new inquiry even as the board's panel was completing one report.

Qayoom is expected to submit his findings by October 10, midway through Australia's tour of Pakistan which commences later this month. So where does that leave the board's interim report, which was leaked to the media on Wednesday?

``No one is sure what will happen next,'' a senior Pakistani sports official at the Commonwealth Games said here today. Requesting anonymity, the official said internal wranglings within PCB have confused the whole issue.

PCB chief executive Majid Khan wanted theinterim report, which suggested the three players be banned from international cricket till the probe was over be implemented immediately.

But PCB president Khalid Mehmood, a government nominee, preferred not to jump the gun. He wanted the players to continue playing for Pakistan till the final report was released.

Mehmood has directed the selectors to include both Malik and Ijaz for the Sahara Cup one-day series against India starting in Toronto tomorrow.

Akram was not considered after English county Lancashire refused to release him during the final stages of the season.

The new government inquiry may also surpass a third panel appointed by the senate standing committee on sports to probe allegations of betting and match-fixing.

The senate committee is believed to concur with the PCB report, but now finds itself in a limbo following institution of a separate government probe.

Curiously, Pakistani captain at Sahara Cup Aamer Sohail told an Australian newspaper he did not expect the players to besummoned by the government panel.

``I don't think we are going to be asked,'' Sohail said, adding he did not object to playing alongside Malik and Ijaz. ``My job is to play cricket. The board has selected me, and them, and we have to play together.''

The judge heading the PCB investigation said he believed his committee was heading in the right direction and expected to finalise his report within three months - after the government inquiry had been completed.

Akram told AFP from England that the PCB interim report was ``a one-sided story and should not have come out.''