KPL Player Finally Spills The Beans On Match-Fixing Scandal In T20 League

The Karnataka Premier League match-fixing scandal is turning out to be one of the biggest cases of corruption in the game of cricket of late. As many as 6 participants of the league have already been detained by the police, including 4 players, 1 coach, and 1 franchise owner.

i-phones were offered behind the scenes just to speak to someone

With players and members of the teams in the league slowly coming out and disclosing more details on the match-fixing scandal, one of the players, on the condition of anonymity, added that they were being offered iPhones just to speak to someone.

“It was a matter of when, not if. When they know some guys simply won’t do it (fix), they are extremely careful around us. When you are not around, it becomes free for all,” said a player who has been playing in the KPL since the inaugural season in 2009,” a former Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) official was quoted as saying.

Another cricketer disclosed on how iPhones were being distributed among the players just to meet someone and it turned out to be the coach himself who had taken up the responsibility of getting phones distributed to the players, which was an inside story.

“A player came up to me to say he was offered an iPhone just to meet someone. There is one coach who was carrying a bag full of iPhones to be distributed among players,” the player revealed.

The former head of ICC and BCCI anti-corruption unit (ACU), Ravi Sawani, who was in charge of KPL’s ACU last season through his private firm had confirmed that several approaches were made by bookies and fixers to cricketers in a bid to get inside information into the fixtures and fix certain results of cricketing encounters.

“It is up to the management to deal with them and make them public. We monitored on a day-to-day basis. Whenever there were any issues, they were reported,” he said.

Isolated incidents aren’t as tough to report but the players come under fire and criticism when the main issue itself lies at the top. If for instances, where the team owner, the coach, or the team captain is the one triggering corruption, the players are finding it really tough to report matters to the concerned representatives, which has exactly been one of the scenarios in the KPL.

“The problem is when the rot is top-down, players are reluctant to report. Even if you don’t want to do what they ask you to, reporting it when coaches and owners of your team are involved is not easy. My captain, who was clean, figured out how wrong things were within the team and began announcing the playing eleven in the team huddle after the communication devices were taken away,” a player reported.

A franchise official also disclosed that one of the players was dropped by the team captain as his rate of scoring runs wasn’t apt. It was later learnt that the player was intentionally scoring at a sedate pace, as it was exactly in the script of the ‘fixing’ arrangement he had made.

“A senior player was dropped for batting slow by the captain. He thought it was poor form. He later discovered batting slow was part of the fix,” a franchise official said.

“It’s happened in a real match situation where the captain was waiting for instructions on whether to bat or bowl before going for the toss,” another player revealed.

Match-fixing in any sport is simply a disgrace. It only deceives the fans who pay a lot to watch the game but also the players, because they think each run they score or take wicket should be earned fairly. If there is no place for fair play then, it is deemed contrary to the spirit of the gentleman’s game.

Several cricketers have expressed their discontent over match-fixing scandals happening behind the scenes. They added that corruption has no place in cricket. If players are found guilty of stooping to their lowest level to fix the games then there is no doubt that they should be given the toughest punishment possible. This is how to put a full stop to all those infamous match-fixing scandals.