Cricket match-fixers is about an 18-months investigation carried out by reporters from Al Jazeera about a match-fixing scandal in cricket in 2016-2017. I haven’t heard about this incident until now and watched the documentary for the first time this morning.
An investigator went undercover pretending to be a businessman looking for insider information about fixed cricket matches at the highest level. The Al Jazeera reporter met a member of an underground match-fixing syndicate in a hotel in India. The entire meeting was videotaped with hidden cameras. The individual is a member of
D-Company, a crime organization involved in drug trafficking, illegal sale of weapons, racketeering, human trafficking, and illegal gambling and match-fixing.
Al Jazeera discovered that the crime syndicate collaborates with many players from various cricket national teams. The gang makes bets that the players on their payroll will underperform in specific game segments known as
overs. It’s possible to bet on the total number of runs in those overs. The players get bribed to bat badly so that the criminal organization can profit from making bets that the total number of runs will be below the score offered by the bookies.
This type of match-fixing can be successful with just a few players from a particular team. Every time your player bats, he will perform according to the instructions given to him by the criminal organization. The final outcome of the match doesn’t interest the syndicate.
The reporter slowly builds his trust with the organization because they believed that he was a serious investor looking to make huge profits. He was introduced to other match-fixers who are ex-cricket players who played for their national teams. They told him that players request on average $70.000 to fix an over/under in a cricket match. The elite teams receive up to $1 million.
How do the games get fixed? A fixed match is confirmed on the day it’s played. The organizers tell the reporter that players are advised to make a signal that the fix is on. The sign is agreed before, and it can be anything. The player puts on a pair of sunglasses or a headband, he takes a pause to remove or fix his shin pads, etc. When the syndicate sees the sign, they have final confirmation the player will do as agreed. The match betting then starts.
They explain to the reporter that they are dealing with a small number of wealthy businessmen who use the insider information provided to them by the criminal organization to make up to $1.5 million per match.
In a different kind of scheme, the match-fixers discuss how they bribe groundsmen to manipulate the cricket pitch to be better suited for either bowlers or batsmen. If the pitch gets “fixed” for bowlers, the batsmen will get ejected more quickly, and the match won’t end in a draw. One team will win. The betting syndicate lays a draw and bets against the game ending in a draw.
Matches that were fixed On 16 December 2016, a test match between India and England began. A few players from England were bribed to fix this match. The Al Jazeera reporter paid the syndicate member $60.000 to receive information on what markets to bet on for India vs England. On the day of the fix, the investigator received a call with details about which over to bet on. The deal was that the batsman will score below the total offered by the bookies. The prediction comes true.
A match between Sri Lanka and India was fixed on 26 July 2017 by the groundsman. The pitch was manipulated to suit batsmen. The pitch was intentionally made hard so batsmen can get more hits and record more runs. The betting syndicate placed bets on over runs for the first team that was batting. A different match between Sri Lanka – Australia was fixed oppositely. The pitch was prepared to not favour batsmen, so they would have difficulties hitting the balls properly.
Watch the rest of the documentary where the syndicate members provide details of how they plan to fix an international cricket tournament in Dubai with members of all teams owned and controlled by the mafia organization.
Have you heard of this betting scandal before, and what is your opinion of all this?
Source:
https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2018/5/26/exclusive-cricket-match-fixers-caught-in-the-act-in-sri-lanka