No suspicion of match-fixing in India’s Tests against England and Australia four years ago, confirm ICC

In what comes as a massive relief for English and Australian players who toured India four years ago, the International Cricket Council (ICC) have confirmed that there is no evidence that proves Al Jazeera’s claims of the India v England Test in Chennai in 2016 and India v Australia Test in Ranchi in 2017 being fixed.

In a documentary titled ‘Cricket's Match Fixers’, that was aired three years ago on Al Jazeera, claims were made that passages of play in the two aforementioned Tests were fixed, with two Australian and three English cricketers being the alleged corruptors.

However, three years on, the ICC have clarified that there is insufficient evidence to conclude that there was any foul play in the said Tests, both of which happened in the sub-continent.

“We welcome the reporting of alleged corrupt activity within cricket as there is no place for such conduct in our sport, but we also need to be satisfied there is sufficient evidence to sustain charges against Participants. In the case of the claims aired in this programme, there are fundamental weaknesses in each of the areas we have investigated that make the claims unlikely and lacking in credibility, a viewpoint that has been corroborated by four independent experts,” Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager (Integrity) said in a statement.

“On the basis of the programme, the Participants to the Code who were filmed appear to have behaved in a questionable manner, however, we have been unable to assess the full context of the conversations that took place beyond what was seen on screen versus what the Participants claim actually happened. This combined with the absence of any other credible evidence means there are insufficient grounds to bring charges under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.

“Should any new substantial evidence come to light I will re-examine the case. But at present I am comfortable with the conclusion of the investigation and the thoroughness with which it was undertaken.” 

The ICC further revealed that “all five Participants to the Code who featured in the programme have been interviewed by the ICC Integrity Unit and there is insufficient evidence based on the normal thresholds applied through the Code to lay any charges.”