Corrupt Approach: Inside Information Sought From Team India Pacer Md Siraj

Mumbai: A man wanted inside information from Team India pacer Mohammad Siraj last month.

Siraj reported the ‘corrupt approach’ to Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI’s) Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) from the man who had lost a lot of money while betting.

Siraj was approached during the India versus Australia ODI series at home in March, just before the 15th edition of IPL got underway. He promptly reported the matter to ACU officials.

“It wasn’t a bookie who approached Siraj. It was a driver from Hyderabad who is addicted to betting on matches… He had lost huge money and approached Siraj for inside information,” PTI quoted a BCCI source as saying.

After Siraj reported the matter to ACU, law enforcement authorities nabbed the person.

Ever since the IPL was rocked by a corruption scandal in 2013, the BCCI stepped up its anti-corruption drive.

Rajasthan Royals cricketers S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were arrested on charges of spot-fixing, and former Chennai Super Kings official Gurunath Meiyappan was nabbed for links to betting.

Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings were subsequently suspended from the IPL for 2 years each.

In 2019, star Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan was suspended because he didn’t report a corrupt approach during a tri-series in 2018, as well as during the IPL later that year.