The Mohali police have unearthed a remarkable story of a Sri Lanka T20 league being run in the city, in the village of Sawara, 16 kms away from Chandigarh. The League was named UVA T20 League and it boasted of big Sri Lankan cricketers like Tillakaratne Dilshan, Farveez Maharoof, and others.
The only thing is that neither of those cricketers, in fact, none of the Sri Lankans participated in the matches, which were played in between unknown players from Punjab, who had face masks on and were wearing colorful clothing.
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The Uva cricket association told The Indian Express that it was running no such tournament. “I can categorically assure you that no such tournament was approved or held by our association. We are investigating this matter and are in discussion with Sri Lanka Cricket and other relevant authorities,” UPCA assistant secretary Bhagiradhan said.
The game at “Badulla” was covered live by FanCode, whose parent company Dream Sports has Dream 11 as one of its brands. Dream 11, a fantasy sports platform, is a sponsor of the Indian Premier League. Indian sports sites such as Sportskeeda ran a live scorecard.
Meanwhile, FanCode spokesperson revealed that the legal team of Sri Lanka cricket reached out to them and they are co-operating with the authorities.
“FanCode follows a strict process for shortlisting and screening potential league partnerships for live streaming of matches. Even with this event, we were in touch with the organizers who provided us with the Letter of Sanction from the Uva Province Cricket Association along with an email from the official email ID of Sri Lanka Cricket that provided confirmation of the tournament. After Day 1 of the tournament, where we streamed two matches, the legal team of SLC reached out to us and informed us that the matches are not approved by them and the documents that have been provided to us were probably forged. As soon as we received this intimation, we immediately stopped streaming these matches on our platform,” the spokesperson said.
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A BCCI official said streaming or broadcasting T20 leagues on websites or channels is vital for organizers of games, as it allows anyone sitting anywhere to place bets on these matches, in turn helping the bookies make money. He called it their ‘known modus Operandi’.
“As far as we know, no BCCI-registered player has played in it. If it is done for betting, it is for the police to investigate. It is a criminal offense under the laws against betting. It could be anything, they could even be showing footage of an old match. It is a matter of finding out where it happened, who organized it, what was the purpose… apparently it is betting,” BCCI anti-corruption unit head Ajit Singh told The Indian Express.
Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Singh Chahal confirmed that two people were arrested on charges related to cheating and gambling on Thursday night.
Meanwhile, the founder of Sportskeeda Porush Jain, said that the sites ran the live scorecard because the match was streamed on FanCode.
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“I don’t know about any Uva T20 league. One of my friends took the booking of the matches on Monday. We don’t know who came to the ground, and other such details. A day after the match, the police came and stopped further matches. We don’t know who was organizing this match. Even we were not allowed inside,” Rinku Nehra, an official of Strokers Cricket Association, the owners of the ground, told The Indian Express.
“20-30 players aye si match khedan is somvar nu. Tent te sound system vi laya si te sham nu kafi raula paiya si. Ek din bad police ayi te match rukwa te (20-30 players had come to play this Monday. Tents and sound system were arranged, and in the evening, there was a lot of partying. On Tuesday, the police came and stopped the matches),” said a resident in his 80s who declined to be identified.
SSP Chahal confirmed that further investigation is being carried out given that Sri Lanka Cricket’s name was involved.
