Mohammad Azharuddin has begun a legal challenge to the life ban imposed on him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India over match-fixing allegations.

The former Indian captain has filed a petition in the Hyderabad civil court following the BCCI's decision to ban him following an inquiry by its anti-corruption investigator K Madhavan.

"We have taken the first steps towards fighting the injustice meted out to Azharuddin," said his lawyer, T Jagdish.

The petition names Madhavan and Board president AC Muthiah as respondents and challenges "irregularities" in the inquiry.

Azharuddin, who is also under investigation by Indian tax officials, maintains he is innocent of any wrongdoing and has vowed to clear his name.

Jagdish, said the action had been taken because there was no provision in the BCCI constitution to enable such an inquiry to take place.

He contended that any action had to be taken solely by the Board's disciplinary committee and also claimed that the punishment was "harsh and discriminatory".

The BCCI inquiry followed a report by India's Central Bureau of Investigation in which five players, Azharuddin, Ajay Sharma, Ajay Jadeja, Mannoj Prabhakar and Nayan Mongia were accused of corruption.

Azharuddin and Sharma were subsequently banned for life and Jadeja and Prabhakar received five-year bans, but Mongia was cleared of all allegations.

But Azharuddin claims he was never given any opportunity to question witnesses who gave evidence against him.

"The CBI did not indict any of the players. There is no admission of guilt in the CBI report against the players who are accused of match-fixing," he said.

The 38-year-old has played 99 Test matches and wants to reach 100 before retiring.

He recently told Outlook magazine: "Match-fixing simply cannot be a one-man show. This is a game which involves 11 players. If a team fails, it is spectacularly unfair to single out just one person.

"What I am trying to say is that unless the entire team is part of the conspiracy, match-fixing cannot take place. There cannot be any foul play on the part of a single person.

"In fact, even five players cannot work to fix a match, it won't work. I repeat that the entire team has to be in the know."

Formal proceedings are expected to begin in the near future following the submission of the petition.