Sri Lanka Match Fixing: Team’s Recent Home Tests Against India and Australia Were Fixed, Claims Report
The ‘gang’ were also caught discussing plans to tamper with the pitch for England's first Test on Sri Lanka’s upcoming tour.
In a startling revelation, an Al Jazeera report has claimed that Sri Lanka’s two Test matches played at Galle International Stadium were fixed. The matches hit by the match-fixing scandal are Sri Lanka vs India in July 2017 and Sri Lanka vs Australia in August 2016. As per the report, groundsman was caught on camera revealing how he in the past doctored the pitches for these two matches to get the desired results and can also repeat it during Sri Lanka vs England Test later this year. Meanwhile, it is reported that International Cricket Council (ICC) has launched an investigation into the allegations.
The Al Jazeera documentary titled "Cricket's Match-Fixers" will be telecast this Sunday. As per reports, the documentary will show Robin Morris, a match-fixer from Mumbai, telling undercover reporters that how he bribed the groundsman, Tharanga Indika, at Galle to doctor the pitch to ensure guaranteed outcomes.
Indika in the documentary reveals how he prepared a batting pitch for Sri Lanka vs India last year in July to ensure high scoring first innings as per the criminals. India, who batted first in the Test, did score 600 runs and eventually won the match.
Similarly, Indika claims that he made a bowling pitch for home team’s Test match against Australian 2016. And the game ended inside three days ensuring fixers of now draw. The ‘gang’ were also caught discussing plans to tamper with the pitch for England's first Test on Sri Lanka’s upcoming tour.
Meanwhile, as per the report, Morris has denied any wrongdoing and claims he was invited to audition for a role in a movie "for public entertainment only”. Indika also denies any involvement in pitch-fixing and says any conversations he had with Al Jazeera journalists was just to be courteous to foreign tourists. The documentary, however, doesn’t indicate that any of the players involved in these Test matches had any knowledge of the pitch-fixing
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 26, 2018 01:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).