Police Says: Attempts Of Match Fixing Were Seen In Nepal T20 League

Jan 22, Kathmandu- It has been confirmed that there is 'spot fixing' in the controversial Nepal T-20 cricket. According to the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police, 'spot fixing' was found in some matches of the opening phase of the league held at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur from 24th December to 27th.

Director of CIB Uttam Raj Subedi says, "It has been seen from the investigation that some Nepali and Indian players have transacted in certain sports activities".

According to him, there was an attempt to make 'match fixing' with the aim of extracting money from betting. "Fixing the game itself is a difficult issue in cricket, although there have been attempts to fix the match", he said.

Gyanendra Malla, the captain of Kathmandu Knights, informed the 'Anti-Corruption Unit' of the International Cricket Council (ICC) that he had received offers from his players for fixing. Sachin Timalsina, the commentator of the competition, also released a video statement on Facebook claiming that there was fixing and announced that he has resigned. After that, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ravi Lamichhane also instructed the Police Headquarters, Naxal to investigate.

Soon after, the CIB started the investigation by forming a six-member investigation committee under the leadership of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sundar Tiwari. According to an officer involved in the investigation, the investigation so far has shown that there is spot-fixing in the involvement of Indian company Seven Three Sports, a commercial and strategic partner of the organizer Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN).

CAN entrust the organization of the controversial Seven Three Sports T20 League for 8 years. In the management letter of this company, it is mentioned that 'betting and operating gambling houses'. Throughout the tournament, there was only an advertisement for '1XBET' in the stadium. It is called an online portal and its name is similar to the popular betting website '1XBET'.

"Since One X Weight is banned, it has been promoted under the name of 1XBET", police officers say, "In the early days, even when clicking on 1XBET, it was made to go to 1XBET."

56 Nepalese and 34 foreign players from all teams participated in the game. Out of them, four foreigners and three Nepalese players were kept under suspicion by the police.

At present, the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) of the ICC Cricket Council has also submitted its report to the police. The technical analysis of the games has been done in it.