Australian media speculates Indian Premier League matches were rigged
Australian media speculates Indian Premier League matches were rigged
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Amid reports of dark deeds among book-makers "whose criminal activities include murder, deaths and entrapment", insidious suggestions are being made in the Australian media that IPL was "stained by cheating", although there is no concrete evidence that illegal bookmakers bought players or fixed matches.
In a story headlined "Spectre of Bookmakers Back to Haunt Cricket", this morning's The Australian newspaper says the fears have been "heightened" after an Australian player was approached during World Twenty20 in June and another was engaged in a suspicious conversation in the team's hotel bar after the Lord's Test last month.
While admitting that "there is no evidence illegal bookmakers bought players or fixed IPL matches" the report goes on say "there were fears about the integrity of the Indian tournament, after it refused to enlist the International Cricket Council's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit.
Both approaches were reported to Australian team manager Steve Bernard who filed a report to ICC's anti-corruption unit.
The ICC has confirmed that it was aware of "an approach" but the newspaper says it can confirm there were two approaches made. It quotes veteran Australian bookmakeru00a0 Gerard Daffy of Sports Alive as confirming that a vast illegal betting market on cricket continues to flourish more than a decade after it was exposedu00a0 by a series of match-fixing hearings.
Daffy says the evolution of the IPL, the ICL and other private Twenty20 leagues had provided a new way for black-market bookies to cash in.
The fact the IPL did not use the ICC's anti-corruption watchdog during its tournament in South Africa last April-May because of what it considered its exorbitant price tag has patently revived memories of the bookies scam of the Hansie Cronje era.
IPL commissioner Lalit Modi is on record as saying that the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) would be involved in future IPL tournaments.
The cricket correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald, now touring England, writes: "Already there is widespread innuendo that matches in the rebel ICL were fixed, all unsubstantiated.
It quotes an anonymous but "high ranking" source as saying that a "high-profile" player was influenced by bookmakers during the first IPL season.
"The team would work out a game plan and he'd go hit balls in the air as soon as he got in, he'd be talking very suspiciously on his mobile phone, a couple of the guys had real concerns".
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The source continues: "People also need to understand that this is not about match-fixing, directly influencing a result, it's about spread-betting.u00a0
u00a0"It could be about bowling a wide with the fourth ball of the 16th over, losing a wicket at a certain time in the match. We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars here.
"This is heavy stuff like the Mafia. There are bookies murdered in India all the time, and they make death threats to players who have taken money and then want to pull out."
The source adds the problem is "rife" in India. "This is a massive problem that has its tentacles at all the high levels of the game.
The Sydney Morning Herald says players from "lesser" Test nations are more susceptible to an illegal bookie's blandishments.
"With the mixing of global talent in leagues such as the IPL, there is great concern among Australian stars that franchise teammates could be on the take."
Whereas the concern of the unnamed Australian "stars" and other anonymous sources mentioned in the press reports is understandable and, indeed, impressive, the absence of evidence, admitted by The Australian, considerably diminishes the credibility of the allegations.
Be that as it may, given the gravity of the charges, it behoves the BCCI and its alter ego, the IPL, to address this momentous issue of international ramifications in all earnestness.
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