KARACHI, Pakistan (CMC):

Inzamam-ul Haq Thursday denied charges he had been an 'introvert and autocratic captain' and said he was being unfairly blamed for Pakistan's World Cup debacle in the Caribbean.

A three-man committee investigating Pakistan's wretched performance at the recent tournament concluded Thursday that Inzamam's leadership had been at fault.

"How they can comment on captaincy without having experienced it, is beyond me," Inzamam fired back.

"I am no dictator. Neither was I ever autocratic as a captain. I always took decisions after consulting the other senior players and team management.

Too easy-going

"The strange thing is that when the team was doing well under my captaincy no one said anything. More strange is the part that former players have criticised me in the past for being too easy-going on the field and not showing more authority as captain. And the committee says I was a dictator."

He added: "The sad fact is that in Pakistan cricket, after every big defeat blame has to be laid on someone. This time it is me," Inzamam lamented.

"But why do people forget how well the team did in so many matches. We had one bad tournament and I accept responsibility for that. But to brand me all these things has hurt me."