Made to order: Bookies doctored pitch in '96

NEW DELHI: Just when groundsmen are toiling 24X7 to prepare the pitch at the Ferozeshah Kotla for the coming encounter with Pakistan, it transpires that nine years ago it may have been tailored to suit the bets of a gang of punters allegedly acting in concert with one member of the Indian team.
This tampering of the pitch was one of the high points of the match-fixing scam which came to light in 2000, and a pointer to the meticulousness with which the punters along with a friendly gang of cricketers fixed outcome of matches.
According to a CBI report, a copy of which is with TOI, groundsman Ram Adhar was bribed to doctor the pitch in order to secure a result that the punters had put their odds on. Ajay Sharma, international player and who performed with great success in the domestic circuit in the 80s and 90s, was the conduit. In all, Rs 3 lakh changed hands, with Sharma pocketing Rs 2.5.lakhs.
The messy fixing saga saw a dramatic revival on Friday when a news magazine claimed that former skipper Mohammad Azharuddin had confessed in a note that he had received Rs 10 lakh from underworld don Abu Salem for providing ‘information'' on three One-dayers.
When contacted, Sharma...
... refused to comment, taking the plea that the matter was sub-judice. The kingpin of the gang of punters involved was the now infamous M K Gupta of Delhi.
The report brings out the role that Sharma played in the scam that tarnished the name of the game, and triggered a chain of events culminating in the sacking of South African skipper Hansie Cronje, and bans of varying durations on Azhar and 3 other cricketers — Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar and Sharma.
The CBI, which probed the alleged match-fixing charges, insists that Sharma''s role was crucial in the whole episode. Sources in the agency maintain that it was Sharma who introduced Azhar, Prabhakar and Jadeja to bookie Gupta aka MK alias John — a resident of Capital''s upscale Defence Colony.
TOI''s attempts to reach Jadeja and Prabhakar for their versions proved futile. Azhar has already denied the charge.
Sharma has also been accused of being the link between Azhar and another alleged bigtime punter, Ajay Gupta of Civil Lines. In exchange for his services, the punters paid Sharma lakhs of rupees.
Prabhakar has been accused by the CBI of having links with a number of bookies and punters, like MK alias John, Tipu Kohli, Anand Saxena, Rajesh Kalra, Sanjeev Chawla, Sunil Dara and Mashaal, etc. “He co-opted a number of foreign players in the scam, besides passing on sensitive information about matches, including one Ranji Trophy game to MK and others.�
For introducing the foreign players...
... and providing ‘information'' regarding matches, he received large sums of money from MK and Kohli, the CBI sources said.
The report also deals with the role of former physio of the Indian team, Dr Ali Irani, saying that he was not just aware of Azhar''s role in match fixing, but even channelled the money from the bookies to the former skipper. Agency sources say the value of the various transactions ranged between Rs 10 to 15 lakhs. In one such deal, a Mumbai-based broker, quaintly named Anil Steel, was also involved.
The report quotes Irani as confessing that he used to get around Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 for facilitating Azhar''s alleged transactions.
Jadeja, CBI found, was very close to some bookies and big time punters, like Uttam Chand alias Topi, Rattan Mehta, Rajesh Kalra, Krishan Kumar (implicated in the Hansie Cronje case). “He gave ‘assessment'' of cricket matches to Rattan Mehta, a bigtime punter,� the CBI report said. In the Mohali Test in October 1999, the two contacted each other 125 times. Also, during another match between India and New Zealand at Ahemdabad, they contacted each other on 179 occasions.