India Tests vs England, Australia not fixed: International Cricket Council

Dubai, May 17

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has said it found no evidence of wrongdoing after investigating claims made by news channel Al Jazeera that two Test matches involving India — against England (2016) and Australia (2017) — were fixed.

In an statement today, the ICC said that the passages of play identified as fixed by Al Jazeera were entirely predictable, and therefore “implausible as a fix”.

In a documentary in 2018, Al Jazeera had claimed that India’s Tests against England in Chennai in 2016 and against Australia in 2017 in Ranchi were fixed.

The ICC also cleared five people — filmed by the channel — of any wrongdoing, saying even as they behaved in a questionable manner, there was no credible evidence against them to bring charges.

In the documentary, an alleged bookie — Aneel Munnawar — was seen making claims about his dubious connections and history of fixing matches, including two Tests involving India. The ICC then launched an investigation into the claims.

4 specialists

“The programme alleged that two matches were fixed: India v England in Chennai in 2016 and India v Australia in Ranchi in 2017. To assess whether the passages of play highlighted in the programme were unusual in any way, the ICC engaged four independent betting and cricketing specialists to analyse the claims,” the ICC said today, saying its investigation is over.

The ICC did not name the people exonerated but sources said former Pakistan cricketer Hasan Raza, Sri Lanka’s Tharanga Indika and Tharindu Mendis were among them. They had joined the investigation. Mumbai First-Class cricketer Robin Morris was also filmed, but he didn’t join the investigation. — TNS, Agencies