The global cricket governing body — International Cricket Council (ICC) has cleared India’s two home Tests of any influence by spot-fixers and said that a TV channel’s allegations had ‘fundamental weaknesses’.
While the first Test was against England in 2016 in Chennai, the seconde game against Australia was held in Ranchi a year later.
“The ICC has concluded its investigation into the documentary programme ‘Cricket’s Match Fixers’ broadcast by Al Jazeera on 27 May 2018. No charges will be bought under the ICC Anti-Corruption Code against any of the five Participants to the Code who featured in the programme due to insufficient credible and reliable evidence,” an ICC statement said on Monday.
The ICC said that it hired four betting and cricket specialists to study the passages of play and they couldn’t find anything wrong.
“To assess whether the passages of play highlighted in the programme were unusual in any way, the ICC engaged four independent betting and cricketing specialists to analyse the claims. All four concluded that the passages of play identified in the programme as being allegedly fixed were entirely predictable and, therefore, implausible as a fix,” said the statement.
The 2018 documentary had alleged that a group of English and Australian cricketers were involved in spot-fixing.
“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,” the ICC said.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had earlier denied the allegations, saying the evidence used in the reporting was poor.
However, ICC General Manager (Integrity) Alex Marshall has said that the body is open to review the allegations if substantial evidence is bought to them.
“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,” he said.