BCCI President Sourav Ganguly on Sunday (December 1) confirmed that a player got approached by a bookie during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019, which had been reported to the board's Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU).
"Even in the Syed Mushtaq, I was told that one of the players was approached but I don't know the exact name. But there was an approach made and he reported it," Ganguly said at a press conference after the BCCI's Annual General Meeting (AGM).
The former captain then went on to say that what players do after being approached by bookies is the biggest concern.
"That's (approach) not the problem, that's not wrong. What is wrong is what happens after they get approached," he added.
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Ganguly opened up about the recent developments when enquired about the fixing scandals that hit the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) and Karnataka Premier League (KPL).
Last month, the Central Crime Branch Bangalore arrested Bellary Tuskers’ skipper CM Gautam and his teammate Abrar Kazi for fixing charges in the KPL final. Moreover, the police in Tamil Nadu have stumbled upon clues of match-fixing racket in the TNPL.
Some renowned domestic stars like Abhimanyu Mithun, who is being under investigation in the KPL spot-fixing saga, also featured in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament.
Ganguly said it is "very hard for the Board to stop tournaments, because somebody is just approached" but acknowledged that "in some of the states it has gone to the next level".
"We have dealt with it (in case of TNPL and KPL). We have spoken to respective states. The KPL is on hold now till all these gets cleared.
"There are tournaments in Chennai, Saurashtra and Mumbai. For Saurashtra and Mumbai, there has not been any complaints, but in Chennai there have been couple of complaints, but we will deal with it."
He concluded by saying that the BCCI will have to strengthen its Anti-Corruption Unit to handle such issues.
"Nobody wants this, it doesn't help anyone. And we will put a system at the two leagues in which betting and fixing happened, KPL is on hold and Chennai (TNPL) has suspended the two franchises.
"We have to get anti-corruption system right, try and put the best anti-corruption, try and make it even stronger and assess it. If it doesn't work or dosen't stop, we will have to think of something else.
(With PTI inputs)
