A Rajasthan Royals player has claimed MS Dhoni was involved in match-fixing in IPL
In a recent revelation, an unnamed Rajasthan Royals player has claimed that MS Dhoni was involved in match-fixing during IPL in a conversation with The Sunday Guardian.
The match under question here is the 61st fixture of IPL season 6, which took place between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on 12th May, 2013.
IPS officer G Sampath Kumar, who made a deposition in front of the Justice Mudgal committee, had revealed that bookie Utham Jain, aka Kitty, had talked about the same match being fixed, and about Dhoni’s involvement in it.
The RR player told Sunday Guardian that the way the CSK team went about the match, cast doubts over their intentions, one example being Dhoni’s unusually tense demeanour.
“There were many factors which made me feel that CSK were not keen to win the match. Right from the time they came to bat first, there were many things that happened on that day which were also quite questionable. Also captain Dhoni seemed to be unusually tense during that match. I believe he had a hand in the manner in which CSK played that day,” he said.
The player goes on to say that though CSK are known for upping the pace during the later stages, “on that day, they did not seem to be any sort of hurry to score.”
Having reached 83/1 at the end of 12 overs, CSK ended their innings at a below par 141/4, with MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina mysteriously falling cheaply in the same over.
The latest transcripts of conversation between Gurunath Meiyappan and Vindu Dara Singh reveal that Meiyappan told the latter that Chennai will end up scoring ‘around 140′. They ended up scoring 141.
Meiyappan also said that Rajasthan will win the match and placed Rs. 1.4 crore bets against CSK. In the conversation, he urges Vindu to place Rs. 30 lakh more on Rajasthan. “RR is winning pakka,” Meiyappan said according to the transcript.
Another queer aspect of this match, according to the RR player, was the lack of any sixes in the CSK innings.
“In any T20 tie, one can see around 12 to 15 sixes being hit. CSK did not hit a single six in their entire innings. This is something unheard of in a T20 tie. In my career in T20 so far, I have never come across a competitive T20 match in which a team fails to manage a single six. We knew that there was something wrong with the way CSK were approaching their innings,” he said.
The player goes on to question the way MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina gave away their wickets against Kevon Cooper in the same over.
“What is even more surprising was the fact that Captain MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina two of the hardest hitters in T20 format played very slowly. Not only that they seemed to be in no sort of any urgency to score.
“Nothing wrong in that. But when you consider the fact that both got out in the same over bowled by West Indian rookie bowler Kevin Cooper then things are not normal,” he said.
The player also put MS Dhoni’s conduct during the match under spotlight.
“Normally one would expect the Indian captain to be cool and composed. But he seemed to very tense. Now we all knew that even if CSK had lost this match, they had already qualified for the next stage. So why he tense for no reason?” he asked.
The Mudgal Committee’s report comes up for hearing in Supreme Court on March 7, one day before the final of the Asia Cup in Bangladesh, which both MS Dhoni (side strain) and Suresh Raina (dropped) are missing.
Author : NAR133
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