MUMBAI: Sri Lanka’s iconic venue, Galle has found itself amidst a massive scandal on Saturday as its curator Tharanga Indika stands accused of having taken a bribe from match fixers.
An investigative documentary by Qatari television network Al Jazeera – “Cricket’s Match-Fixers” – suggests that criminals had fixed two Test matches at the Galle International Stadium, the Sri Lanka vs Australia Test in 2016 and the Sri Lanka vs India Test in 2017.
The meetings, which were covertly filmed, showed that the same fixers had plans to rig the Sri Lanka vs England match in November this year at the same venue.
One of the alleged match-fixers is is a former professional Indian cricketer. Hailing from Mumbai, Robin Morris is heard in documentary saying that he bribed Indika to tamper with the pitch so that he could win a large sum of money from betting after the match gave a desired result.
Morris told undercover reporters that he bribed Indika to doctor the pitch to ensure guaranteed outcomes on both the occasions.
Indika, who is also the assistant manager of the ground, was quoted as saying to Al Jazeera’s undercover investigative unit: “If you want a pitch for spin bowling or pace bowling or batting, it can be done.
“In that five-day match (Sri Lanka vs Australia), we prepared the wicket poorly without using a roller. In that way we made a spinning wicket.”
As a result, the fixers knew that the game would have a result and bet on it accordingly.
For the Indian game in 2017, Indika allegedly prepared a batting wicket.
“India was set a batting wicket.”
“We pressed the wicket thoroughly with a roller and then we put water on it to make it even harder,” he is seen as stating in the documentary.
The International Cricket Council (ICC), has launched an investigation into Al Jazeera’s findings.
The ICC stated it “will take the contents of the programme and any allegations it may make very seriously”.
It said it was “working with anti-corruption colleagues from member countries based on the limited information we have received”.
