Satire Saturday | SLC and BCCI open investigation over match-fixing claims

Satire Saturday | SLC and BCCI open investigation over match-fixing claims

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SLC and BCCI open investigation over match-fixing claims

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SportsCafe

Former Sri Lankan sports minister, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, who served in the post from 2010 to 2015, had expressed his opinion that the Sri Lankan cricket team ‘sold’ the match, with some sections in the setup involved. Post that, finally, the Sri Lankan Cricket association opened investigations.

The Lankan government ordered an enquiry into the matter and a special Police investigation unit recorded Aluthgamage's statement. During the mega-investigation in the history of Sri Lankan cricket, the set of former players, including Arjuna Ranatunga and minister Aluthgamage sit in the centre of the round table when they start discussing the matter. This time around too, we were lucky enough to be privy of this discussion and we were clearly told that we could discuss the same outside the purview of the attendees. 

First up, even before they could pull up the 2011 World Cup final files, there was Thilanga Sumathipala, at the other end of the table opposing the 1996 World Cup-winning skipper’s involvement in the discussion. The two rivals fight it out - verbally in the middle of the discussion with both of them pointing out how the other has messed up Sri Lankan cricket. During the conversation between the two, there was one file that floated right to and fro on the table - Muttiah Muralitharan’s documents. 

This really startled all of us, some already were privy to the information and the others like us, were looking at the document for the first time. We were shocked, we clearly were not ready for a pandora's box to open up in just the beginning of this meeting. In the two-page A4 sheet, signed by the ICC, there was one statement, which was startling - Muttiah Muralitharan’s action needs a remodel if he wants to play international cricket. While this document never found the day till today, it was hidden for far longer in the Sri Lankan cricket chest. When Thilanga did question about it in the meeting, he was thrown out of the meeting, which caused an abrupt break.

Soon after the break, we were back at it again, when Ranatunga felt intimidated more than ever after the documents had come out in the public. He hid this matter for the longest years - 24 to be precise. When the entire council came to know of it, he was too shown the door just as his rival in the meeting. Ultimately, it came down to Aluthgamage’s claims. When the minister pointed that out, everyone immediately pointed fingers at him for pulling the Sri Lankan cricket board down with this allegation, in order to snatch this position. On top of that, they also played the video of two of Sri Lanka’s prominent members of the 2011 World Cup - Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. That shut down the entirety of claims, which put the responsibility in India and BCCI’s favour to figure out the rest of the controversy. 

BCCI’s meeting

BCCI clearly were dejected when the case jumped right in front of them from their Sri Lankan counterpart. Just days after the Sri Lankan board had approached the Indian board to host the IPL, this came in as a shocker, with the BCCI deeply hurt by their backstab. But, forced by the ICC, the Indian board had to call in for a meeting, where they investigated their top-level authorities from that period. First off the list, incidentally, even BCCI found documents that would put them in a bad light - in particular, the Ajay Jadeja document, which has been pretty much stayed in the underground like Murali’s in the Sri Lankan cricket board. 

In just five years, everyone wondered how the former Indian batsman came out of trouble, out of the match-fixing one with relative ease. Immediately the board called for a time-out, where we sneaked peek to find out the dark side of the Indian cricketing board - with a lot of documents gone hidden right away, without anyone batting an eye. In 2010, UNP Colombo District MP SM Marikkar questioned Minister of Sports about Suresh Raina being involved in a possible match-fixing accusation. 

While we know that it was never proven after, with the all-rounder becoming a mainstay of the 2011 World Cup-winning squad, we now know how we got there! The BCCI’s email document, which had its hardcopy on the table, had everything specified, on how the all-rounder was contacted by a bookie. But the document was hidden and the all-rounder went on to win the World Cup. Knowing that one would lead to the other, BCCI quickly stopped the meeting and made a call to their Sri Lankan counterpart. 

However, the match-fixing scandal was not the topic of discussion, as the Indian cricketing board clearly mentioned that it was unhappy with the Sri Lankan board for hitting them from the back. In reply, the board refused an IPL hosting opportunity to Sri Lanka. Following the meet, BCCI’s treasurer Arun Dhumal gave a call to the minister, asking him why he did that and to take his statements down. Then, we incredibly saw the turnaround from the minister, where he went on to say that it was just his suspicion that the World Cup was sold. 

Soon after that, just like how the IPL GC took a decision regarding the Chinese sponsors, they released out a statement which read, “We have had the Sri Lankan cricket board express their interest in hosting the IPL this edition but we are not looking to host the tournament in Sri Lanka in light of the latest controversy regarding the 2011 World Cup.”

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