Published on 05:41 PM, May 27, 2018

2017 Ind-Aus Test under spot-fixing cloud?

Virat Kohli and Steve Smith involved in a war of words. Photo: AFP File

A Test match between India and Australia in March 2017 is the subject of a documentary by TV channel Al Jazeera, which alleged that the match was marred by spot-fixing. 

ESPNCricinfo published a report today saying that it had seen the documentary and that Cricket Australia had requested Al Jazeera to furnish it with raw and unedited footage of the match ‘to determine whether allegations of spot-fixing in a Test involving Australia in India are credible and an investigation is necessary’.

CA has also been quoted in the article to have responded to the claims saying: “Neither the ICC or Cricket Australia is aware of any credible evidence linking Australian players to corruption in the game”.

The match in focus is the third Test of Australia’s tour of India in Ranchi from March 16 to 20. The match ended in a draw, but the allegation from Al Jazeera is that some Australian batsmen scored at a rate specified by fixers. The documentary shows a person named Aneel Munawar, thought to be involved with crime syndicate D Company, naming two Australian cricketers as being part of the fix. 

The names of the cricketers were not revealed in the documentary. 

ESPNCricinfo also reported that ‘another Test involving a different country is also under the scanner’. This perhaps implies that the other Test involves either India or Australia on one side.