Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders were contemplating legal action against the Pakistani newspaper Nation for its report saying fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was questioned at Karachi airport for allegedly carrying a large number of syringes.

"We are contemplating all action including legal against the newspaper," Knight Riders manager Joy Bhattacharjee told reporters here on Saturday.

The newspaper report on Friday said that "custom officials had questioned Shoaib on an inordinately large supply of syringes in his baggage, reportedly as many as three dozens in number" while he was boarding the flight to Mumbai en route to join his Indian Premier League (IPL) team Knight Riders in Kolkata.

The report led to doubts that Shoiab, a dope offender, is once again resorting to such means.

"We are talking to lawyers. We want to see whether we can make out a case (and) then we will proceed," Bhattacharjee said, describing the reprot as a deliberate attempt to malign Shoaib.

"Both Shoaib and the Kolkata Knight Riders are extremely upset over the clear attempt to slander him," he said.

Pointing out the discrepancies in the report, Bhattacharjee said: "First, Shoaib travelled to India from Lahore, not Karachi. Secondly, he travelled to Kolkata via Delhi, not Mumbai. And thirdly, he did not travel with any hand baggage, therefore obviously there were no syringes."

He said that after verifying with sources, the Knight Riders were convinced that Shoaib was neither stopped nor questioned by either Indian or Pakistani customs.

"All these statements are independently verifiable by the media," he said.

Source : IANS