Sri Lanka's former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has backed his claims that the 2011 World Cup final between India and Sri Lanka was fixed, saying some cricket officials purchased car companies and started new businesses after the team's loss.

Aluthgamage took the cricketing fraternity by storm as he raised this matter on Thursday (June 18). Although he didn’t accuse any player, he stressed that the team was changed at the last moment without consultation.

"The team who played the final match was not the team we had selected, finalized and sent off. At the last moment, without the consultation of either me as the then minister of Sports or officials of the Sri Lanka Cricket Control Board, four new players had been included to the team," Aluthgamage told Daily Mirror.

"We saw this only when we watched the match. How could four players get replaced without due approvals and consultations? The new players were inexperienced compared to the rest of the team. Why did they do that out of the blue?"

The ex-minister also alleged that an Indian newspaper knew about the changes even before the Sri Lankan authorities.

"I wrote to the ICC in 2012 regarding this matter, yet they failed to respond," he said.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan cricket legends Mahela Jayawardena and Kumar Sangakkara have ridiculed the claims of Aluthgamage, asking him to provide evidence for the allegations.

"Mahela has said that the circus has started. I don’t understand why Sanga and Mahela are making a big deal about this," Aluthgamage said. "I am not referring to any of our players. Everyone is talking about just two minutes of a half an hour interview I gave to a TV channel. Even Arjuna Ranatunga has openly talked about match fixing issues earlier."

Coming to the 2011 World Cup final, Sri Lanka posted 274/6 in 50 overs on the back of Jayawardena’s unbeaten 88-ball 103.

In reply, India rode on Gautam Gambhir’s 122-ball 97 and skipper MS Dhoni’s 91* off 79 balls to overhaul the target with 10 balls to spare.